This paper provides a sketch of a preservice teacher education field experience in schools serving ethnically and racially diverse populations. Since the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is situated in a rural setting with a predominantly white population, accessing schools serving ethnically and racially diverse populations poses significant…

This paper presents the findings of a literature review undertaken to identify behaviors and practices demonstrated by successful urban teachers in their preparation for teaching and interacting with students. The literature search focused on competencies for urban teaching and on urban education. The search yielded two broad areas of competence:…

What are the thoughts of exemplary teachers from high poverty schools on linguistic diversity and cultural responsiveness? What do inner-city children say about their best teachers? In focus groups, faculty and students from high poverty schools were asked about the qualities and characteristics of exemplary urban teachers. One focus group…

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) has worked with the University of Houston, Texas Southern University, the Houston Community College to develop a program to prevent rapid staff turnover in urban schools. Part of the program is aimed at recruiting high school students who live in urban areas and training them as potential teachers.…

Project Impact is an innovative three year program being carried out in mutual cooperation by the Cleveland Public Schools and the Department of Education at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio with Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III funding. The program seeks to humanize the educational process in the urban schools by…

The reform of teacher education at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has proceeded from a collective commitment to developing a unified framework for the preparation of early childhood, primary/middle, and special education teachers for urban schools. The new program, Collaborative Teacher Education for Urban Communities, integrates…

A 4-year case study was done of a partnership program between the Houston (Texas) Independent School District and Texas A&M University's College of Education (College Station) designed to prepare student teachers for work in inner-city public schools. The two institutions worked together through four collaborative decision-making councils to…

A study explored the effectiveness of "rap music" as a method of instruction for urban preschool children. It was hypothesized that urban preschool children would learn more new content (10 unfamiliar names of body parts) in a classroom environment through the use of rap music for instruction, than would children who received instruction…

Maryland, the first state to mandate performance assessments for its elementary school students, administers the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program as a week-long series of activities measuring reading, writing, language in use, science, and social studies for students in grades 3, 5, and 8. Open-ended questions are built around…

Preparing inservice and preservice teachers and administrators to meet the challenges of student diversity requires collaboration among teacher educators, state leaders, school practitioners, and the community. The Urban Living-Learning Teaching Center partnership is designed to meet this challenge. The partnership includes faculty,…

A 3-year collaborative project among Clay and Duval County (Florida) school districts, two professional teacher organizations, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, and the University of North Florida College of Education and Human Services sought to improve the preparation of urban teachers, increase student achievement, and decrease urban…