What teaching practices foster inquiry and promote students to learn challenging subject matter in urban schools? Inquiry-based instruction and successful inquiry learning and teaching in project-based science (PBS) were described in previous studies (Brown & Campione, [1990]; Crawford, [1999]; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, Bass, & Fredricks,…

This article reports the findings of a research study that investigated the knowledge base and the perceptions of professional competence of 115 general education teachers as they relate to the inclusion of students with physical disabilities. Members of the sample represented elementary and secondary teachers who were teaching in rural, urban,…

This article reports the findings of a collective case study of 2 low-performing, predominantly minority urban schools. The research shows that principals were able to improve the quality of parent-teacher relationships using multidimensional strategies that addressed the needs of teachers and parents. The findings suggest that strategies to…

The Reading Improvement Through Teacher Education (RITE) project provided in-service training in reading instruction to elementary school teachers, and helped principals and reading coordinators to organize their school reading programs. The project's intended mode of operation was fully implemented. RITE specialists provided service contacts to…

The Cross Island Parkway divides the New York City borough of Queens from suburban Nassau County. Surveillance patrols in several Nassau communities observe families who are suspected of living in Queens and illegally registering their children in Nassau schools. This report describes a preservice, urban teaching program at Hofstra University, a…

This study was conducted in the Connecticut public schools during the l989-90 school year to determine why it is so difficult for urban school districts to recruit and retain teachers. The specific purpose was to identify policy-manipulable variables that predict changes in self-efficacy beliefs within first-year teachers in urban schools. This…

This paper addresses the issue of teacher training for urban schools. Certification requirements for most public school teachers are mandated by the individual States. Requirements relevant to particular geographical areas are not typically included in State certification regulations. However, unique characteristics of urban schools have begun to…

Data are presented on four important aspects of the St. Louis education system's professional employee situation: (1) the pattern of movement from one part of the metropolitan area to another; (2) the survival behavior among the area's certified personnel; (3) the shift of personnel towards positions in administration as opposed to teaching; and…

Entitled Project Success Environment and funded by Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III, the pilot 1970-71 study included eight experimental classes with appropriate comparison classes. Following this initial effort the program was expanded to include twice the number of students within a wider age range during the second year of operation…

Reports the results of a questionnaire distributed to randomly selected teachers within the Chicago metropolitan area. Teachers indicated their desire for the availability of various resources, were they to take their students on a field trip to a natural area. Implications for natural area managers, as well as proposed training strategies, are…

This article examines the potential of critical teacher inquiry groups to promote urban teacher retention, professional support and development. While much has been written in recent years about teacher inquiry, generally, little attention has been paid to professional development programs that highlight a critical analysis of urban schooling.…

This inquiry is directed at understanding the factors related to recruitment and retention of urban secondary teachers. Data were collected via selected response questionnaires from 815 public high school teachers in a large Midwest city. The findings provide implications for urban centers in the U.S. educational system from the classroom…

This study examines six teachers' responses inside and outside of their classrooms to increasingly mixed messages about how they should develop the literacy of California's youngest and most at-risk students. While they must develop highly developed knowledge and skills to teach literacy in linguistically diverse classrooms, they must also adhere…

A continuum of professional development proposed at the University of North Florida conceptualizes points along the continuum as junctures for initiating collaborative activities between public schools and higher education. The findings of four different studies were merged to investigate the career development continuum of urban educators. The…

Questions addressed in this paper include: what it means to be a successful teacher in poor, urban, ghetto areas; whether schools of education can prepare white, middle-class young men and women to be successful teachers in such areas; and if it is possible to prepare them, how to do it. Two case examples illustrate some unique challenges found in…