This document is comprised of the 6 issues in volume 18 of the Harvard Education Letter, a bimonthly newsletter addressing current issues in elementary and secondary education. Articles in this volume include the following: (1) January/February--"Curriculum Access in the Digital Age" (David T. Gordon) and "Using Charters To Improve…

A voucher system of schooling would destroy the few democratic gains made in public education in recent years, worsen inequalities that already permeate education, and block opportunities for meaningful reform. Articles included in this special issue are: (1) an introduction, "Why We Are Publishing False Choices" ("Rethinking…

This issue features the opinions of some highly respected, but often controversial, educators who stand outside the mainstream of education reform. They often advocate more structured and top-down approaches to the problems of urban students as they consider the standards that must be created to promote achievement for all students. "No Magic…

Equity does not require that everyone have the same amount of resources to satisfy basic needs, but it does require that each of us be able to live decently. The articles in this issue focus on poverty and its effects on children, particularly with respect to education and the ability to learn. The following articles are included: (1) "Poor Kids…

Enrollments in city public schools over the last 20 years are reviewed and analyzed. Enrollment in the member cities of the Great City Schools (GCS) declined at twice the national rate between 1970 and 1990, at 23.1% versus 10.2%. The composition of urban school enrollment also changed dramatically. The Anglo American share of GCS enrollment…

This report highlights four urban comprehensive secondary schools that are developing, implementing, and evaluating reform initiatives that include vocational and technical education as a key component of these efforts. Efforts of these four high schools are described: Bryan High School, Omaha, Nebraska; Humboldt Secondary Complex, St. Paul,…

In July 1991, 20 superintendents, who are members of the Urban Superintendents' Network, a coalition of educational leaders sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), participated in a special panel presentation and roundtable discussion entitled "Turnover in the Urban Superintendency:…

Project SPIRIT, a Carnegie Corporation sponsored program of the Congress on National Black Churches, has worked within the black community, particularly black churches, to try to strengthen black families. Black churches have played a critically important role in sustaining the black family since the days of slavery. The black church in the 1980s,…

The numbers of students receiving a high school diploma in New Jersey and differences in graduation rates for males and females and for minority and non-minority students are examined. Conclusions are based on graduation totals reported by the school districts. In the country as a whole, 71% of all students receive a high school diploma by age 18…

This resource bulletin provides an overview of creative disciplinary programs in rural, suburban, and urban school settings through interviews conducted with administrators in 1986. Principals interviewed in urban settings expressed concern about student gangs and safety. In rural schools, administrators stated that community cohesion and…

The Chattanooga (Tennessee) public schools are building a national reputation for the work they are doing to improve the city's schools. The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, which has promised substantial grants for the reform of urban middle school education in Chattanooga, asked the Southern Education Foundation, through its Focused Reporting…

This special issue journal on the politics of urban education contains the following articles: (1) "The Politics of Urban Education as a Field of Study: An Interpretive Analysis" (K. K. Wong); (2) "Urban Education as a Field of Study: Problems of Knowledge and Power" (J. G. Cibulka); (3) "Knowledge and Power in Research into the Politics of Urban…

This paper reports on three projects in California that have attempted to stem the tide of Latino dropouts and increase the college-going rates of the Latino population. Each of these three programs has tested a set of strategies aimed at increasing the educational attainment of Latino students, who now make up the largest single ethnic group in…

This report reviews and analyzes data and issues affecting the supply and demand for teachers in urban public schools for the past, present, and future. The demography of urban teachers does not match that of students. While students of color made up 74.7 percent of all students in the Great City Schools, teachers of color were only 37.9 percent…

The papers in this document feature four themes: religion and education, the nature of childhood and its relationship to education, urban educational problems, and the character of educational journalism. Part 1 begins with "A Common Faith for the Common School? Religion and Education in Kansas, 1861-1900" (J. C. Carper) which compares…