A case study was done of Central Park East Elementary School (CPE 1), in New York City, a school with a reputation for extraordinary work with students and their families in a student-centered environment. The study includes an overview of CPE 1 culled from the school's descriptions of itself and other public documents; a descriptive narrative of…

There is a growing body of evidence that specialization in violent crimes is rare and that it is hard to identify distinguishing characteristics of violent offenders. The purpose of this study, conducted in a Pacific Northwest city, was to determine whether violent behavior is, in fact, a manifestation of high rates of antisocial behavior in…

Using linked individual and census tract data from the 1980 U.S. Census, it is found that when a teenage boy drops out of school depends not only on his family background and the increase in earnings associated with graduating, but also on the characteristics of the neighborhood in which he lives. Both the good and bad dimensions of neighborhood…

The deeply fractured nature of U.S. society is examined, focusing on poor and working class people in cities. Based on data from 154 poor and working class young adults aged 23 to 35, the study reveals the ways in which this urban generation has suffered from social change. The following chapters are included: (1) "Voices of Hope and Despair:…

A disproportionately high number of minority students are referred by general education teachers for placement in special education. Teacher perception of social skills and problem behaviors of African American male students with and without identified disabling conditions was studied with 44 African American urban male students in grades 3, 4,…

This study assessed the influence of reflective thinking on the early field experiences of preservice teachers who later taught in urban settings that were radically different from those they experienced as students. Reflective thinking refers to consciously identifying and defining schooling and classroom problems, generating reasonable…

A study was done of 5 selected domains of self-perception held by 60 urban black male 10th graders in North Carolina. The domains were scholastic competence, athletic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and job competence. Each domain was transformed into a research questions. Achievers (n=30) and potential achievers (n=30) as…

This report provides a statistical portrait of child and family well-being in the city of Chicago. It presents up-to-date information from government sources and includes trend data where available. The report notes several patterns emerging from these data. Although the child population is shrinking, the proportion of children facing risk of…

The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations held a public hearing to examine the effects of poverty on the hundreds of thousands of low income Blacks and Latinos under the age of 18 residing in Los Angeles County (California). The Commission's findings, recommendations, and concerns are presented. The following findings are presented: (1)…

As part of the School Action Effectiveness Study, 406 Milwaukee inner-city, unemployed dropout youths were surveyed seven months after intake into an employment counseling and placement center. Personality characteristics were assessed at intake. At follow-up, personality characteristics, employment and schooling status, and self-reported police…

This report presents questionnaires that were used in three phases of a longitudinal study of career aspirations and attainments among low income youth and of their mothers' aspirations for them. The subjects were interviewed in 1969, when they were in the fifth and sixth grades, in 1975, and in 1979. Participants were members of three low income…

A study examined preschool children's awareness of literacy. Subjects included 18 children from 2 classrooms of prekindergarten children who lived in a black, inner-city neighborhood and attended a school that believed in providing formal reading and writing instruction in the prekindergarten year. Subjects were asked how they were learning, how…

The impact of three family life education courses for black, inner-city, junior high school students was the topic of this study. A total of 172 students in 7th and 8th grades participated in experimental and control groups. The programs varied in their intensity; students in the experimental group met for 40 minutes once a week for 15 weeks…

Data from a survey of inner-city junior high school youths examined how their self-images related to their drug use. Boys and girls who were oriented to drug/gang or drug culture values were involved with drugs; those who were educationally oriented were not into substance taking. In finding that the boys and girls related to their environment in…

This document includes articles on programs for the gifted in urban and rural areas. Jean Blanning writes a personalized case-oriented record of an independent studies program offered in an urban high school (in New Haven, Connecticut) serving large numbers of minority children. This section gives testimony to the effectiveness of dedicated…