This digest examines prospects for educational voucher reforms across the U.S. education system. Currently, fewer than 20,000 U.S. students use publicly-funded school vouchers in Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Florida. As a proportion, this figure is tiny. Education voucher programs are neither prominent nor popular now. Whether they proliferate over…

This digest discusses how urban schools can implement distance learning programs through customized development of the three elements crucial to a successful distance education program: (1) sound instructional design; (2) appropriate technology applications; and (3) support for teachers, students, and collaborative partners. A distance learning…

Family mathematics programs, based on family literacy programs, successfully teach math skills to both children and their parents. This digest describes specific strategies for teaching family mathematics. Schools can use these strategies as part of an overall program or as ad hoc family learning activities. In family math programs, program…

This digest highlights major research findings about social promotion, retention, and programs that identify and assist students at risk of retention. Research findings indicate that, overall, neither social promotion nor retention offers lasting advantage nor leads to high performance. Some evidence supports, and little evidence disputes, the…

This digest, based on an extensive review of research on comprehensive school reform, presents a brief overview of the role of teachers in comprehensive schoolwide reform (CSR). CSR is most successful when schools have decision-making autonomy in administration and instruction. Teachers also prefer models that fit with the school's overall…

This digest explores truancy in the urban context, examines the different types and reasons for truancy, and reviews the new ways that researchers and intervention programs are addressing this problem. No national data on truancy rates exist, but many larger cities report staggeringly high rates. The relationship between race or income and truancy…

This digest examines the qualities that make paraeducators good candidates for teaching, particularly in diverse, urban schools. It discusses the critical aspects of programs that prepare paraeducators as classroom teachers. Paraeducators and other education support personnel (ESP) already have classroom experience, are more likely to live in the…

In 1983 the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared the United States "A Nation at Risk" because of inadequate education. A decade and a half later, the United States is still at risk because U.S. schools are failing children. Dropout rates have declined, and college attendance has risen, but student achievement has…

Researchers have long investigated whether smaller classes improve student achievement. Their conclusions suggest that class size reduction (CSR) can result in greater in-depth coverage of subject matter by teachers, enhanced learning and stronger engagement by students, more personalized teacher-student relationships, and safer schools with fewer…

This digest reviews current research on girls' delinquent and violent behavior, the factors contributing to it, and effective programming strategies to prevent it. Girls are more involved in violent crime than they were a decade ago. Their murder rate is up 64%, although status offenses (offenses only because the perpetrator is a minor) continue…

Professional development schools (PDSs) were developed to provide a new model for teacher education that enables graduate students to have meaningful classroom experiences while they earn their degrees. This digest describes some of the ways that PDSs can improve the school experiences of urban students. It also describes some of the pitfalls of…

This digest discusses issues in the selection of an appropriate focus for a focus school. Schools with a theme and schools targeted for particular students, which are both components of the focus-school genre, have long been a part of the nation's education system. A number of school districts, especially in urban areas, have established focus…

To help guide family literacy program developers in shaping their curriculum, and educators and community leaders in creating independent parenting programs, this digest describes the parenting education component of successful urban programs. In general, family literacy programs have three basic components: adult education, parenting education,…

The "digital divide," the separation between those with access to new technologies and those without, is seen by many as one of the leading equity issues in the United States. Computer and Internet access varies widely across the United States, with better educated people, those with more money, and whites more likely to have Internet…

The urgent need to improve big city schools has been a powerful incentive to adopt accountability systems. The following types of accountability systems may exist alongside each other: (1) political; (2) legal; (3) bureaucratic; (4) professional; and (5) market. Bureaucratic accountability is a "top down" system that holds teachers…