Against a backdrop of the broader conversation around the mathematical achievement disparities of urban, minority students, the author reviews salient literature pertaining to student engagement as a means of identifying effective mathematical practices in engaging traditionally marginalized groups of students in their study of mathematics. First,…

This article is a retrospective analysis of successful planning processes implemented in an urban school district in the Northeast United States to improve student behavior by incorporating positive behavior activities and strategies as well as infusing more specific character education into the curriculum. The results after three years of…

Of late, teachers unions have worked together with district management in new and notable ways. This paper examines the role of teachers unions in shaping the Together Initiative (TI), which seeks to increase autonomy and broaden decision making in urban schools in one northeastern state. In general, state-level union leaders have taken more…

Over the past several decades, policymakers have sought to address the problem of school failure by exposing traditional public schools to competitive market forces. In this analysis, we examine how two traditional public schools in a "high pressure/high choice" urban school cluster in Texas responded to a number of overlapping choice…

In this paper, we look at the inner workings of a school district through the lens of the "district operating system (DOS)," a set of interlocking mutually-reinforcing modules that includes functions like procurement, contracting, data and IT policy, the general counsel's office, human resources, and the systems for employee and family…

An important contest is taking place in Washington, D.C.--a race between two vehicles designed to carry children into the future with the habits and skills they need to live productive, meaningful lives. The older of the two, the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), uses a "unified governance model" that emerged more than a…

This chapter explores how systemic functional linguistics (SFL) can contribute to secondary teachers' effectiveness for teaching disciplinary literacies to refugee youth in the United States. The chapter describes the Milltown Multimodal/Multiliteracies (MMM) Collaborative, an SFL-based professional development partnership between a large public…

New legislation in California will allow school districts, such as Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), to consider the "financial and academic impact" when approving or denying applications for new charter schools. OUSD has been in fiscal distress in the past and faces fiscal challenges that continue to play out in classrooms across…

School-community partnerships are currently in the forefront of place-based urban reform efforts. But the literature on these partnerships indicates a variety of models that require different commitments and resources. Through a close review of the literature, we developed a typology of four partnership categories organized from the least to the…

At Rosa Parks, a middle school in a crime-ridden neighborhood, students are advised to "do as they are told" and they will succeed. Unfortunately, "doing what they are told" often translates into repeating information given to them by the teacher, especially when it comes to writing. Meanwhile, students in an affluent…

This article examines the relationship between international education and English as an additional language (EAL) education in British Columbia's public education system. Drawing on a wide range of data generated as part of a longitudinal study of high school aged fee-paying international students (FISs) in an urban school district in British…

In FY18, School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC) outperformed Florida and five other large urban school districts for the fifth consecutive year (FY14-FY18), and has consistently increased the graduation rate, including from FY17 to FY18. District operated school students exceeded the Board's Strategic Plan goal of 90% by posting a graduation…

This study investigates the implementation of educational research among urban secondary schools in Malaysia. The respondents include school teachers and administrators, lecturers in education institutions, and committee members of the state education departments. Data collected from interviews were coded and analyzed using open, axial and…

The gentrification of many the country's big cities is providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a large number of racially and socioeconomically integrated schools. But to capitalize on this opportunity, urban schools that currently serve a predominantly poor and minority population must find a way to attract and retain the…

Amid the growth of charter schools, autonomous schools, and private management organizations, an increasing number of urban districts are moving toward a portfolio management model (PMM). In a PMM, the district central office oversees schools that operate under a variety of governance models. The expansion of PMMs raises questions about local…