In this study, the authors examined the academic performance of 18 urban districts that participated in the 2009 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). The districts participated in grade 4 and grade 8 reading and mathematics assessments. Eleven of these districts also participated in the…

This report summarizes preliminary and exploratory research conducted by the Council of the Great City Schools and the American Institutes for Research on urban school systems participating in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The study is one of the first large-scale analyses…

This report examines school funding concerns in Pennsylvania and how they affect Philadelphia schools and, to some extent, the schools of Pittsburgh. The report presents a new way to look at issues of school funding equity and adequacy by trying to link the debates over high standards and the opportunity to meet them by defining adequacy around…

The Council of the Great City Schools proposes that Pennsylvania overhaul the formula for funding its public schools in order to provide Philadelphia and other poor and minority communities with resources equivalent to those in the highest achieving school districts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The proposal has two goals: (1) to propose a…