Dr. James Lytle's discussion of the "destruction" of the School District of Philadelphia was indeed a bitter pill for Indi Ekanayake to swallow. As an educator who is both an alumnus of Teach For America and a charter school employee, Ekanayake feels as if he might be a representative of the types of people whom Dr. Lytle is…

Research conducted on youth exposure to violence has generally focused on documenting the prevalence of community violence and its emotional and behavioral implications. However, there is a dearth of information related to the impact of violence on the implementation and evaluation of community and school-based programs. This commentary examines…

Though researcher dilemmas are not new to the pages of "Qualitative Inquiry," we argue that the current contemporary context has both altered and intensified issues associated with conducting qualitative research within sites most affected by more recent social, political, and economic shift. Navigating such sites as researchers poses…

In her 1995 article, "Sapphire Bound!", legal scholar Regina Austin calls for minority female scholars in the legal field to straightforwardly, unapologetically, and strategically use their intellectual pursuits to advocate on behalf of poor and working class minority women. Even though Austin is arguing from the perspective of a woman of color,…

The urban has been studied by students of geography, politics, aesthetics/culture, architects and politicians. Educational researchers in defining the urban as a field of research and practice have looked at schooling and its institutionalized role in cities. A wider discussion of the very character of urban experience and its relevance for…

Discusses varied roles a qualitative researcher or ethnographer plays in the educational research process. Focuses on ways in which these different roles affect others' behavior in the presence of the ethnographers; how ethnographers interact; and how ethnographers interpret, analyze, and present data. (Author/MJL)

Presents reflections of six teacher-researchers who participated in the Center for the Study of Writing and Literacy's M-CLASS, a project that focuses on understanding literacy in multicultural urban English and social studies classrooms. Notes that one issue the group raised is that teacher research often leads to teacher change. (PA)

Teacher shortages, like the one schools face today, are not new. Periodically over the last 50 years there were fewer teachers available than were needed, and the response was primarily to step up recruitment efforts and issue temporary teaching credentials to those without qualifications. Three things are new however: (1) The requirement that…

The evaluation of a school improvement program for elementary schools (School Effectiveness Training) and for secondary schools (Secondary School Development Program) provided an opportunity to determine if user participation could increase knowledge use. It was hypothesized that program staff participation might be a solution to the dilemma of…

Discusses anthropology's role in policy-relevant educational research, drawing on experiences in evaluating Chicago (Illinois) city schools' restructuring. Questions raised by case studies in school restructuring include qualitative researchers' role in studying educational policy, issues of objectivity in policy research, and networking…