As states approach the funding cliff marking the end of federal stimulus help for education, school districts will be feeling more financial pain than they're experiencing now. But there's good news amid the bad: Big city districts are showing schools nationwide a way to save money and improve efficiency by working together. They've created the…

About 15% of the nation's high schools produce more than "half of its dropouts" and close to "75% of its minority dropouts." Half of these schools are found primarily in the cities of the North, Midwest, and West. The other half are found throughout the South and Southwest in urban, suburban, and rural areas. If only a very few students were not…

Empirical research on the supply and demand of math and science teachers finds some surprising results. The employment of qualified math and science teachers has more than kept pace with the demand, and most schools find qualified teachers for those positions. However, about a third of public schools--particularly high-poverty, high-minority, and…

Having studied schools in the past eight years that have high concentrations of students living in poverty, but who consistently exceed the performance of similarly impoverished schools, the authors conclude that such higher-performing schools share common characteristics setting them apart. The three most essential are: Teachers, administrators,…

The latest wave of reform in urban schools, led by the venture philanthropists, has made a great deal of change, without much progress. Foundations with a venture philanthropy bent, like the Walton Family Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and the Broad Foundation, say market principles, such as choice and competition, will improve schools. If…

Milwaukee's gay-friendly Alliance High School was conceived to be a welcoming and confirming school for kids who have been teased and bullied and had their interests marginalized in traditional schools. The result is a group of teens who feel they have found a safe place as they explore who they will be and how they will live the rest of their…

American high school students reflect their disinterest in school and classroom activities through increased disengagement and higher dropout rates. Narrowing our instructional strategies because of our increased focus on testing limits non-text-based activities at exactly the time when visual means dominate student learning. Approaching…

New teachers don't last long in urban schools. From 30% to 50% of them leave these schools within their first five years, and teacher education institutions are trying a number of strategies to change this. To combat the high attrition rate among new teachers in urban schools, the authors suggest that teacher education programs should take a…

A study of 31 high-performing teachers in low-performing urban schools found that these teachers had certain traits in common. They were strict; they taught in traditional, explicit ways; there was little time in their classrooms when instruction was not occurring; and they moved around the room helping their students. They used very few…

In her article, Megan Hopkins offered that teaching residency can allow Teacher for America (TFA) to capitalize on its existing strengths and contribute more effectively to a better future for both low-income students and the schools that serve them. In this article, the author agrees with Hopkins' vision and asserts that the teaching residency…

Teach for America exists to address educational inequity--the stunning reality that the American nation, which aspires so admirably to be a land of equal opportunity, where one is born still largely determines one's educational outcomes. Despite plenty of evidence that children growing up in poverty can do well academically--when given the…

In this article, the author questions why the resegregation of U.S. schools into two systems--one poor and urban and one well-off and suburban--has remained unnoticed by the public and policy makers. As for state and national policy makers, they have diverted attention away from the deep political, social, and economic forces that have conspired…

Winners and finalists for the annual Broad Prize for Urban Education have consistently outperformed peer districts serving similar student populations. What makes the difference? These districts consistently demonstrate a learning loop that influences the district's ability to learn, which ultimately influences student opportunities to learn.…

Many schools are characterized by a pervasive tension between students and teachers: Teachers want students to learn and so they set high expectations for students. Students become anxious about those expectations and often become resistant to learning, perhaps out of fear that they can't meet those expectations. School leaders can make a…

Finalists for the Broad Prize for Urban Education demonstrate that identifying strategies that fit the local context is essential in creating success for students. Long Beach Unified School District in California and Broward County Public Schools in Florida demonstrate how districts can use different strategies to achieve the same goals.