The current climate in education environments necessitates the collaboration on and sharing of research done by teacher educators and professional developers. In an era of high-stakes assessment driven by international tests, professionals are looking for research-based or evidence-based initiatives and approaches to enhance teacher learning,…

In this country we have done a poor job of helping students come to see the wonder, beauty and power of mathematics. Standards can be brought into the picture, but unless we think about what it means to truly engage students in mathematics we will continue to be unsuccessful. The goal of this book is to begin to change the way students experience…

When you want to succeed in the tough landscape of urban schools, you need more than just passion, faith in your own ability, and a sense of urgency. You need real skills. This book comes to your rescue with practical suggestions, examples of successful practices, ideas to support you and your team, and an inspirational message about how to be a…

New Schools for New Orleans (NSNO) commissioned this guide, in collaboration with the Louisiana Recovery School District and the Tennessee Achievement School District, to meet the Investing in Innovation (i3) requirement that grantees disseminate the lessons of their work. To create this guide, NSNO worked with Public Impact to build on prior…

The second edition of "19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City" adds new questions to those in the original volume. Continuing the developing conversation in urban education, the book is provocative in style and rich in detail. Emphasizing the complexity of urban education, Shirley R. Steinberg and the authors ask direct questions about what…

Shows how a study of public art as reflected in current and historical photographs of school buildings provides a new lens for examining educational standards. Considers how using the principles and practices of contemporary public art, preservice teachers identified a number of the assumptions made about the built environments of their city…

Presents guidelines for implementing a district-wide reading improvement system, gleaned from the experiences of the Detroit school system. (ET)

If school improvement efforts are to succeed, it seems clear that institutions of higher education, school districts, and state education agencies must work together to create new strategies, incentives, and options that will promote educators' learning of the new practices and perspectives that will change the core of educational practice. The…

Notes that magnet schools were established to promote racial diversity, improve scholastic standards, and provide a range of programs to satisfy individual talents and interests. Suggests the need for a better understanding of new policies on race and magnet schools; the social and political context of choice; and the consequences of reform…

Discusses key issues that emerged when the cultural interests of African-American youth were brought into the curriculum of two urban schools. Argues that teachers can benefit by taking an ethnographer's stance in engaging students. Discusses the cultural resistance shown by some students, as well as the instances of cultural competence shown by…

This document summarizes results from a study concerning the ways in which telecommunications might be used to support school reform initiatives in Chicago, Illinois, particularly of Local School Councils (LSCs) and staff development activities across a sample of 283 schools. Results from the study suggest that telecommunications can be used to…

A program that provides a cash alternative to actual commodity food items to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Child Nutrition Program has greatly reduced processing charges and virtually eliminated warehousing expenses. By only purchasing the food wanted, and in the form preferred, the children are provided with the full commodity benefits to…

Three brief articles which look at approaches to preventing discipline problems in inner-city special education programs are titled as follows: "Characteristics of Successful School Principals" (M. Fafard); "Practical Suggestions for Administrators" (P. Harris); and "Developing a Healthy School Climate" (A.R.…

Maintaining that urban teaching and learning is characterized by many contradictions, this book proposes that there is a wide range of social, cultural, psychological, and pedagogical knowledge urban educators must possess in order to engage in effective and transformative practice. It is necessary for those teaching in urban schools to be…

In 1995 the streamlined British national curriculum defined outdoor education as "outdoor and adventurous activities" (OAA) and placed it within the physical education (PE) curriculum. However, many PE teachers lack a knowledge of outdoor education and, when faced with limitations in time, resources, facilities, and expertise, may choose…