This book attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the major leadership issues facing urban schools. It also provides practical recommendations for improvement to address the challenges of urban school reform. The chapters are: (1) "Circular Hopelessness, Poverty, and Urban Schools"; (2) "Academic Achievement and Parental Involvement in…

"Report on the Cultural Missions of Mexico" is based on a manuscript written in Spanish by Professor Guillermo Bonilla y Segura, Chief of the Cultural Missions Department of the Mexican Secretariat of Public Education. The report covers the activities of the missions for 1943 and also gives limited information concerning the program…

A college instructor describes her experiences teaching two remedial composition courses as part of the Urban Education Program at Westfield State College in Massachusetts. Focus is on teaching methods that emphasized grammar, writing, and reading, and on student progress throughout the courses. Examples of student work are included. (JMD)

In this article, the authors describe their experiences in working with superintendents, principals, assistant principals, and teacher-leaders in New York City, embedding NSRF work into all their professional development efforts, and how responsive facilitation and using NSRF's principles of reflective practice, collaboration, and shared…

This paper reports on how reform efforts since 1991 have affected teachers in an urban, K-6 elementary school of approximately 450 students. Teachers were predominantly female, middle-aged, and of European descent, while students were increasingly African-American and poor. Children were considered well-behaved by teachers, but less respectful…

The Cooperative Urban Teacher Education (CUTE) Project was initiated in 1967 by the Mid-continent Regional Educational Laboratory (McREL) to design an intensive, field-oriented undergraduate program to prepare effective teachers for inner-city schools. The results is a 16-week program which is conducted during the student teaching semester and…

Urban teachers need a set of attributes that enable them to connect with children and youth in poverty and to function in dysfunctional school districts. The Milwaukee Teacher Education Center's (MTEC's) urban mission is to prepare educators to teach in the real world classroom of urban schools. For example, teachers are prepared to work toward…

Contends that the nature of U.S. urban life has created profound challenges for urban schools. Asserts that music educators must examine innovative trends in policy, programming, and curricula to determine how music can contribute to better schools and a better quality of life in urban areas. (CFR)

Teacher attrition and teacher burnout are among the most serious problems facing urban schools today. With teachers under constant siege, under resourced, and often under prepared, the revolving door of urban teaching has left schools, and therefore children, in a constant state of flux. These dehumanizing and de-intellectualized conditions of…

In response to the challenges of new state-mandated requirements for teacher credentialing, a team of university faculty and school district representatives worked in a collaborative project to support beginning teachers. The outcome of the collaborative is an innovative program that provides support and formative assessment of teachers during…

The increasing racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity among the populations attending urban schools poses a significant challenge to providing quality public education. Similarly, few would dispute that, in order to meet this challenge effectively, teachers must acquire the cultural competency for creating productive and inclusive learning…

A study of successful urban schools was conducted using two research strategies. Part One of this report consists of eight case studies of elementary schools in midwestern cities. The case reports were based on self-studies, in many instances by school staff members. The studies were constructed to focus on the human factors that make the…

Explains a project where urban gifted students designed and wrote a 62-page activity resource book for children. Participants (aged K-junior high) visited the marsh, researched topics, and created activities for inclusion in the book. Teachers believe that the writers used creative abilities, problem-solving, and higher levels of thinking in this…

Discusses the reading problems that are concerns in a Science-Technology-Society program of science teaching. Describes possible origins of the lack of comprehensible reading abilities and the teacher's role in facilitating the process. (RT)

Examines problems of instructional evaluation in urban schools using signal-receptor assessment theory analysis and a new type of test scoring procedure called Modified Confidence Weighted-Admissible Probability Measurement (MCW-APM). Discusses advantages of MCW-APM. (FMW)