In many urban areas, educators rely on magnet schools to strike a delicate balance between the need to create opportunities for equity in education and the need for parents to have greater choice among schools. But, are magnet schools successful? This document considers whether they fulfill the promises of high achievement and desegregation in…

This report describes "Philadelphia's Grand Experiment" in comprehensive school district reform, from its conception through its initial months of implementation. In 2001, as part of the remedy for low student performance, the governor ordered the state to take over governance of the Philadelphia School District, with a substantial…

Few colleges of education include theory and practice about the need to nurture resilient teacher leaders. This issue should be addressed in order to improve the preparation and continued development of the nation's teachers, particularly those in urban schools. This newsletter suggests that as problems confronting schools, particularly urban…

The drastic actions that have been taken in the District of Columbia public schools offer many lessons for those interested in urban school reform. In November 1996, the District of Columbia's federally appointed financial control board took over the school system, firing the superintendent and replacing the elected school board with an appointed…

This collection of essays discusses excellence and achievement in urban schools. "Needed: Excellent Teachers for Urban Schools" (Diane Ravitch) suggests that the best thing to do to help urban students is to ensure that they have excellent teachers. "Beyond the Courage to Change Urban School Systems" (Rudolph F. Crew) discusses…

This report examines the health and wellbeing of children in the United States' largest cities, covering every city with a population of 100,000 or more, as well as the largest cities in states without any cities of this size. Research shows that many cities are becoming more child-friendly, with better access to good education, jobs, and health…

This journal issue presents examples of progress in urban education. It shows preliminary data on system-wide improvement in student achievement, dropout and graduation rates, student attendance, and more. Progress in urban schools is the result of a growing national consensus on what needs to be done, and an increasing emphasis by urban educators…

The eight chapters of this theme issue evaluate a large-scale intervention, the New York City Public Schools Integrated Learning Systems Project. The overall evaluation contains ethnographic studies of project schools, statistical investigations of outcomes in terms of student achievement and attitude, comparisons of system costs to other systems,…

This document, comprised of five issues of a newsletter published by the National Middle School Association, focuses on teaching concerns and practice in urban middle grades. Regular features of issues include an editorial section, a resources column, a "News to Use" section, and feature articles. The following are some articles…

Part of a 13-volume series designed to help Lutheran communities assess the feasibility of starting a Lutheran elementary school and to assist ongoing schools in current operation, this volume focuses on the response of Lutheran elementary schools to community changes. The publication begins by discussing the problem of sensitizing congregations…

As part of its work for the Citizens' Commission on Planning for Enrollment Growth, the Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME) conducted research to assess the impact of overcrowding on the students of New York City schools. All five of the City's boroughs have experienced recent enrollment growth that has been closely linked to…

This report describes disadvantaged urban eighth-grade students. All statistical data were drawn from the student, parent, and school files of the base year of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). The following findings are summarized: (1) rural schools contain the greatest proportion of disadvantaged eighth-graders, but…

This publication reviews works on educational reform that represent attempts to do more than merely respond in knee-jerk fashion to political pressure for reform. Bruce Joyce and Emily Calhoun, in "Learning Experiences in School Renewal: An Exploration of Five Successful Programs" (Eugene, Oregon: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational…

The articles in this theme issue focus on urban education. The first essay, "The Changing Urban School" by Rosanne Bacon, notes the challenges of urban schools. As the nation's cities change to reflect a more diverse, multicultural, and multiethnic population, urban schools must meet the needs of a rapidly changing student population. Teachers are…

"Cityschools" reports on research regarding the transformation of urban schools to make this research more accessible to practitioners in urban classrooms. This theme issue focuses on youth violence, exploring how some schools, families, and communities are working together to organize their resources and to design strategies to fight violence.…