Considerable research has been conducted on the effect of anxiety on academic achievement. The most consistent finding is that high anxiety is associated with low performance, particularly at the elementary school level. To explain this situation, some researchers have hypothesized that anxiety debilitates students' attention span or time-on-task…

Perhaps the most controversial and provocative issue in the discussion of reading failure in inner-city schools has been the relationship between Black English Vernacular (BEV), reading failure, and reading instruction. The debate has focused on the degree to which BEV does or does not interfere with the acquisition of reading/language arts…

The aim of this paper is to bring some conceptual synthesis to the deliberations of the conference, "What Do We Know About Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools?". The author begins with an attempt to define the concept of urban education, and continues with an identification of some of the critical issues related to urban life and education in…

A vast number of different types of citizens' groups participate in the educational process with differing degrees of involvement. Besides school-oriented groups, there are child advocacy and neighborhood associations, other citizens groups that have broad concerns but are in part interested in schools, and the advisory committees created by legal…

There are a number of factors that combine to discourage public involvement in urban education, which in turn tends to discourage public leadership. The situation of city school boards has changed because of extensive regulation and collective bargaining. Most people will do nothing unless those with an especially large stake in the health of…

This paper addresses problems in research on urban education and outlines several National Institute of Education (NIE) proposals for dealing with these problems. It is argued that research should not stray too far from the basic educational goals of inculcating literacy, that educational research must become more diverse and sophisticated in its…

To motivate the urban adolescent, to offer a program of skills geared to work and life, and to reduce the need for remediation at the college level, LaGuardia (New York) Community College established a middle college, a new educational subunit, to cover the last three years of secondary school and the community college sequence with a program…

This paper presents a comparative case study of two students learning in an urban environment but characterized by high motivation, effective discipline, small classes, generous academic support, counseling, and educational equipment. The primary question driving the study relates to the challenges to meaningful learning in a special science high…

The past decade has seen great strides in the design of new learning technologies that support learning aligned with standards-based constructivist and inquiry teaching practices. Though there is considerable evidence that these technologies can help students learn when used appropriately, they are rarely employed beyond the small-scale settings…

This paper explores how new accountability policies interact with culturally relevant teaching at the classroom level. When teachers are under the constraints of accountability and student testing policies, are they able to adopt and practice culturally relevant pedagogy in their classrooms? Previous research indicates that high-stakes…

In an ideal democratic society, public education should be the means to provide everyone with opportunities to receive a quality education that prepares them to be productive, competent adults. For the last decade, issues of equality and quality have become more questionable, particularly in large urban areas. During the 2000 election, a Michigan…

This study focuses on a beginning secondary science teacher and his efforts to establish a learning community in a large metropolitan school district. During the study, the teacher was enrolled in an alternative teacher-certification program for returned Peace Corps volunteers. After teaching full-time during the day, participants attend…

This paper describes the teacher education system in Turkey. It includes an overview of the history of modern teacher education in the country and outlines the current system. The present system actually began in 1924 with the Law on Unification of Education when all schools in Turkey were brought under a Ministry of National Education. Pre-school…

An urban independent middle school grouped its 63 sixth and seventh graders into single-sex mathematics classes (SSMC) to improve girls' achievement in mathematics (AIM) and attitudes toward mathematics (ATM) with no negative impact on boys. Researchers analyzed AIM, ATM, and interactions/instruction. AIM measures included Metropolitan Achievement…

This collection of papers presented at a 1996 conference on children's mental health focuses on program evaluation efforts within states and systems of care. Individual papers have the following titles and authors: (1) "An Overview of State Public Mental Health Programs for Children with a Serious Emotional Disturbance" (Pamela C. Roddy); (2) "A…