East St. Louis educators provide critical counter-narratives to Jonathan Kozol's depiction of teaching and learning in East St. Louis, Illinois in "Savage Inequalities." Teachers, educators, and administrators provide a complex view of urban schooling beyond deficiency, inadequacy, and despair. Findings highlight educators' voices as…

This paper explores the ways in which success in school is constructed by a majority White teaching staff during day-to-day classroom practices and schoolwide policies, such as the disciplinary systems at a "no-excuses" charter school in one of the largest urban districts in the U.S. Stakeholders were assessed by interviews and…

This article reports on urban elementary teachers' understandings of cultural relevancy and the practices they enacted after a professional development on culturally relevant education (CRE) and cognitive apprenticeship. Focus group interviews support that participating teachers understood some principles of CRE but did not always match the theory…

Despite recruitment efforts, teachers of Color are underrepresented and leaving the teaching force at faster rates than their White counterparts. Using Critical Race Theory to analyze and present representative qualitative narratives from 218 racial justice-oriented, urban teachers of color, this article affirms that urban schools--despite serving…

This article examines how 18 teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff from seven New York City public high schools collaborated during the Black and Latino Male Professional Development Initiative (a pseudonym) to develop a "culturally relevant, schoolwide, college-going culture" supportive of Black and Latino males'…

This article addresses teacher retention in urban schools, focusing on high-need secondary science classrooms. As a longitudinal study, this research investigated how eight case study teachers conceived of their careers and career moves. The experiences and perspectives of three case study teachers indicated that they were situated along a…

This study explores teachers' beliefs about urban students and urban teaching. The author discusses some cultural aspects of these teachers' definitions of urban and points out their highlighting of race as an essential component of urban teaching. Even though race is rarely named, it is often at play in the teachers' descriptions of urban…

This qualitative multisite case study examined how three high schools within one large urban district supported ninth-grade students' needs through interdisciplinary teaming. Data collected during the 2006-2007 school year included observations, interviews, and archival evidence of 67 participants. Findings suggest teacher communication as a…

Data on the impact of student, teacher, and principal racial and gender composition in urban schools on teacher work outcomes are limited. This study, a secondary data analysis of White and Black urban public school teachers using data taken from the restricted use 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), examines the effects of relational…

This study operationalizes warm demander pedagogy as a component of culturally responsive teaching. These instructional methods emerged during a study that examined the pedagogy of two African American urban teachers as compared to the literature. Through observations and interviews, the study examined the following: (a) How did each teacher…

Analyzes why teachers leave urban schools and their subsequent employment, using the questionnaire responses of 50 of the 124 teachers who left the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) public schools in 1988. Finds that 90 percent of the "leavers" find teaching jobs in other schools. Suggests how the problems cited by the leavers could be ameliorated.…

Examines the reasons why one-third of the teachers in a large urban school district rated the quality of their school highly but did not want their own children to attend the school where they taught. Finds the following explanations: (1) overall school quality; (2) disciplinary consistency; and (3) racial attitudes. Discusses policy implications.…

Identified differences and similarities in a sample of 1,700 entry-level teachers among those who started their careers in racially/ethnically diverse schools and those who taught in schools with low levels of racial/ethnic diversity. Findings highlight the complexities of teaching in schools of high diversity. (SLD)

Discusses teacher attitudes on sex, race, and teaching area differences with reference to questionnaire survey data from a sample of 113 teachers in a large metropolitan school district. (JM)

The attitudes of 193 teacher candidates at a rural university toward teaching in urban schools were studied. In spite of their lack of experience and preparation for teaching urban students, many were willing, although not eager, to teach in urban schools in order to have a job. (SLD)