The school mobility rate in St. Louis Public Schools was 40% in 2011-2012, meaning that nearly half of students exited or entered a given school midway through the school year. This alarmingly high rate of churning across schools is accompanied by high neighborhood turnover, particularly within low-income, urban neighborhoods. This constant,…

Discusses the use of regimentation and depersonalization as socializing mechanisms at an inner city junior high school. Focuses on the routine encounters of newcomers and the way such encounters force students to redefine themselves according to institutional needs and practices. (PS)

Responds to a recent article in which Harry Miller criticizes the use of ethnographic or naturalistic methods in educational research. Reviews a number of ethnographic studies of schools, discusses the methodological rigor of such studies, and stresses the importance of information that can be gained through this type of research. (GC)

Reviews methods used to determine effective schools, reports key findings in the literature, and presents a procedure by which school systems can analyze all their schools to determine which ones are effective or ineffective and why this has occurred. (Author/GC)

Reviews teacher stress as it has been described in literature since the 1930s, and suggests that proposed solutions place too much responsibility on teacher attitudes and not enough on school environment and organization. (CJM)

Reviews several ethnographic studies that focused on classroom processes which exclude or discriminate against minority group children. Discusses how an ethnographic approach, which considers the social context of learning, can provide more insight than have studies focusing on academic achievement and environmental determinants. (GC)

Dr. Larry D. Fields, the former principal of Rowland H. Latham Elementary, led the development of a complementary learning model that became known as the Latham Way. The Latham Way produced remarkable academic success among poor minority students. The chi-square of the expected and the actual scores in reading and mathematics were significant at p…

The way to educate poor children effectively lies in the fusion of school social work and knowledge about effective schools. The following factors should be of concern to social workers: (1) parent involvement; (2) student welfare; (3) administrative leadership; (4) academic focus; (5) consistent monitoring of student progress; (6) high…

School social workers can foster partnerships between family and school. Both the home environment and the amount of parent involvement can add or detract from educational productivity for students. Aspirations for excellence have a better chance if the social worker helps to forge relationships between families, communities and schools. (VM)

Reviews effective schools research and asserts that achieving effectiveness by focusing narrowly on testing and curriculum objectives can have detrimental effects. Provides a listing of characteristics of schools that achieved grade-level success with low income students for several years. Intended as a practical guide for other schools wishing to…

In spite of the most adverse circumstances, some children manage to survive and even thrive, academically and socially, into adulthood. A complex array of individual, family, and community factors has been identified that best explains resilience and lays the foundation for programs and interventions targeted at fostering the development and…

A review of the literature on school effectiveness identifies elements at the system level and the building level that contribute to effectiveness. The literature also provides diagnostic tools for evaluating one of the most important components of school effectiveness, school culture and climate. (SLD)