The study on which this book is based examined the development of social relationships among black and white students in a new, desegregated urban middle school. In the initial phase, information was gathered from classroom observation, interviews, and a wide variety of supplementary sources over a three-year period beginning with summer…

The focus of this book is a study of voice through writing among poor, urban preadolescent fifth-grade girls. Voice became a central focus when the researcher, engaged in observations of peer writing conferences for students who were not native speakers, noted that the girls appeared to lose their voices as the year went on. The loss of voice was…

This book addresses experientially and theoretically the nature of contemporary urban education, in terms of teaching and in the contexts of U.S. culture and teacher education. Much of it is derived from classroom experience as an inner-city classroom teacher. Chapter 1, "Connecting Inner Cities and Urban Schools: Racism's 'Slippery…