The rationale for taking bold action on the nation's persistently failing schools can be summed up in one dramatic and disturbing statistic: half of the young Americans who drop out of high school attend just 12 percent of the nation's schools. Ending the cycle of failure at schools is a daunting challenge and a surprisingly controversial one.…

Argues that traditional methods of involving low-income minority parents in their children's education have not worked. Suggests ways to improve parent-teacher communication, understanding, and cooperation in urban schools. (MM)

New Visions for Public Schools has put together "The New York City Guide to Small High Schools" to describe new opportunities in the public high school system: over 200 small secondary schools created over the last five years. These small schools are part of the Department of Education's efforts to create more choices for thousands of…

Urban parents, particularly those who are poor and members of a minority group, are intimidated by the schools that serve their children and, therefore, do not participate in school programs. This article suggests steps urban principals can take to establish an effective parent involvement program. (Author/WD)

Central Park East school was founded in 1974 in Harlem (NY) as an alternative elementary school within the public inner city school system. In 1984 it had expanded into three elementary alternative schools and added a fourth secondary school. It is considered a progressive school following in the tradition of New York city's private schools. (MD)

This parent guide gives a general overview of student voucher programs. It explains the difference between vouchers and other school choice plans, such as charter schools and inter-district choice. It provides a summary of the research on the impact of vouchers on student academic outcomes and on public school performance. It describes how several…

This book provides teaching models, classroom organization schemes, and management practices that can quickly improve a teacher's capacity to reach unmotivated and disengaged students. Examples are drawn from elementary, middle, and secondary schools. After Chapter 1 (Part I) introduces the problem and describes the characteristics of at-risk…

There is an urgent need not only to attract more people into the teaching profession but also to build a more diverse, highly qualified, and culturally sensitive teaching force that can meet the needs of a rapidly changing school-age population. This Toolkit takes best practices from high school teacher academies around the United States and…

This paper provides an extensive literary review and presents guidelines and strategies to help school administrators recruit and retain highly effective minority teachers for culturally diverse school districts. The literature review identifies successful teacher recruitment approaches and specific techniques that make these approaches work.…

This publication is a practical guide to implementing the Mathematics, Science, and Minorities: K-6 (MSM: K-6) Project, a program to increase minority student participation in mathematics and sciences in the kindergarten through sixth grade levels. The guide is organized into five parts. Part 1 is an introduction that explains why minority…

This handbook was developed by Project 10, an on-campus counseling program within the Los Angeles (California) Unified School District. The handbook covers many of the issues and problems that arise for homosexual high school students. Introductory material includes a history of the informal beginnings of Project 10. The first chapter describes…

This booklet examines the need to recruit minority teachers, highlighting the Urban Teachers Outreach Program (UTOP) currently being implemented in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The UTOP's collaborative effort between Lakeland College and the Sheboygan Area School District has helped minority members of public schools' classified staff (mostly teacher…

This book presents affirmative strategies to rid schools of discrimination. Many of these strategies were developed as a result of research in four public high schools with large percentages of ethnic and language minority students in the deep south. The study, which consisted of 48 30-90 minute interviews, suggested that there is wide student…

A large percentage of practicing teachers has not had courses in urban education or multicultural studies. This volume attempts to fill the void for teachers who find themselves teaching minority students but are unsure about how to best meet their needs. An overview is provided of many issues that are essential in teaching minority students.…

Discusses whether the current trend toward implementing conflict-resolution (CR) programs in schools promotes social justice or supports an inequitable, systemic status quo. The authors also examine the relationships between the educational mission of schools and the concept of social justice and CR's impact on school culture and community. Issues…