This study explored the challenges facing 1st-year alternatively certified teachers of mathematics and science in urban middle schools. Four teachers, participants in a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, were followed from preservice training through their 1st year of teaching, having taken part in…

This qualitative case study examined how social capital development was facilitated in an urban after-school program. Specific attention was devoted to identifying structures and strategies that helped student participants develop social capital, the types of social networks that were developed through program participation, and the outcomes that…

Given the importance of postsecondary institutions partnering with community agencies and groups to meet a variety of essential goals such as access and success of students, this study investigated one such partnership with the aim of attempting to understand the experience of community-led partnerships and the role of culture in partnerships…

This article examines the quality of primary school inputs in urban settlements with a view to understand how it sheds light on benchmarks of education quality indicators in Kenya. Data from a school survey that involved 83 primary schools collected in 2005 were used. The data set contains information on school quality characteristics of various…

Through analyses of focus group transcripts, the author highlights key school-based supports and resources students viewed as helpful in their college-planning activities and explores the challenges students' expressed about being exposed to school-based social capital while living in disadvantaged community contexts. The findings suggest the…

Poverty in the United States is migrating far beyond the urban core and transforming the suburbs into places increasingly stratified by income, wealth, opportunity, and education. Census data from the 2005 American Community Survey reveal new patterns of income inequality, residential mobility, and spatial segregation that make the suburbs less of…

This article addresses the paradox and complexity of the interactions of the social-cultural context of my students and my identity, as a female Chinese junior professor in social foundations/diversity in my predominantly European American urban classroom. This article will describe the hidden dimensions of teaching diversity courses, the…

This article describes aspects of the relocation of schools from the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip ("Gush Katif") after implementation of the disengagement plan in summer 2005. The study describes "successful" and "unsuccessful" relocated schools in the eyes of parents and the impact of the schools' new…

Presents an Illich-like view of the educational process. (SB)

School in the Park is a museum-based intervention intended to nurture the resilience of inner-city students in third grade to fifth grade. The academic resilience and personal development of participants were compared to those of nonparticipants for 2 years. Although the groups differed in academic resilience for the duration of the study, they…

Introduces a collection of articles that cover a broad view of arts education as socially transformative within urban, suburban, and rural settings. The articles highlight various approaches to socially responsible arts education and demonstrate that a quiet revolution in arts education is brewing, with students creating art for real audiences and…

This commentary summarizes the salient features of the six papers comprising this issue. (Author/AM)

Suggests that four trends are defining the leading edges of evaluation methodology. These are: implementation and change studies, use of non-psychometric measures and design, the technical assistance model, the policy information model, and the "do it better" model. (Author/AM)