This study documents the impact of placing graduation coaches as a GEAR UP intervention in urban high schools. The overall goal was improvement of students' academic performance, particularly for students not passing core courses. This longitudinal study began with data collection in feeder middle schools where results indicated improved student…

There are limited numbers of special education doctoral students from traditionally underrepresented populations. The impact of an urban doctoral preparation program with features to ensure retention to graduation is described. Implications for doctoral program recruitment, retention, and supports are provided. Survey instrument and PowerPoint…

This activity discusses a unit exercise in which a physics practical was implemented during a laboratory session. The lab practical design was centered on Newton's Second Law. The practical was implemented in a high school setting. Further, through the administration of both a pre and post test we were able to assess the effectiveness of the lab…

Elementary students from a Chicago housing project rise to the occasion and fight for an equal opportunity after being faced with shamefully, inadequate conditions at their neighborhood school. Challenged with the prospect of co-creating a curriculum based on their priority concerns, the young people developed an integrated effort to solve this…

There are three very important factors that contribute substantially to urban fiscal problems in providing educational services. First, at the same time that the tax base for the cities' services is being eroded, the cities' residents are in need of and demanding greater expenditures for health services, welfare, sanitation, transportation, public…

The perceptions of teachers who have participated in professional development experiences provided by the Urban Systemic Initiative in four sites (Miami, Florida; Chicago, Illinois; El Pas, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee) were studied. Focus groups were conducted at each of the 47 schools across the 4 sites. Focus groups usually consisted of the five…

Two poor inner city predominantly Black school districts (East St. Louis and Lovejoy, Illinois) entered into a joint agreement to enhance delivery of special education services to their children. Initial mistrust began to give way when a common philosophy was reached. Approaches developed included diagnostic and prescriptive teaching and…

The major objectives of this paper are to identify and examine those areas most critical to the effective management of a research and evaluation department in a large urban school system. The paper focuses on the organizational structure and management concerns of the Philadelphia school district's Office of Research and Evaluation. The scope,…

A screening program at rural and urban Mississippi sites to determine developmental disabilities in young children (birth to 3 years) was carried out by community volunteers who had been trained to administer the Steps-Up screening instrument. Of 244 infants and young children who were screened within a 9 month interval, 76 children were…

Preliminary findings of a study of assistance personnel, or "change agents," in urban school improvement programs, failed to show an association between the effectiveness of educational change agents and any particular skills they employed. The study did isolate a nummber of general and specific skills that study participants identified…

More than 50,000 New York City special education students in self-contained classes and resource rooms in grades 2-9 were tested in reading on the California Achievement Test, Form C. Students who had testing modifications recommended on their individualized education programs were tested with the appropriate modification. Among the moderately…

This paper details problems that can exist in a school district-university relationship, based on the author's experience as a professor with a leadership training project for urban schools. It is stated that the different orientations that exist between the personnel of the two institutions can create constant tension in such a joint project.…

Under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation, 22 urban school districts have been involved in a long-term educational reform through the Urban Systemic Initiative (USI) program since 1994. This paper presents a brief summary of findings regarding best policies and practices in the educational reform effort focusing on student…

This paper describes the context and conditions leading up to the November 1998 Jersey City Education Association (JCEA) strike, including the JCEA's history, state takeover of the district, and constraints in New Jersey's collective bargaining law that hampered the union's ability to address teacher dissatisfaction with curricular issues that…

This paper presents a case study as an illustration of the need to probe issues and assumptions that arise when outsider staff developers work with teachers from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. After tracing the historical and sociopolitical context of urban school reform, the paper examines the author/educator's experience of…