This study profiles tutoring programs that empower urban youth within the Regional Institute of Tutorial Education (RITE), a community collaborative of universities, youth agencies, community service organizations, and school districts. Representative members of RITE detail how they address shared urban problems of academic deficits, school…

"Creating the Dropout" traces the history of school leaving and the concept of the dropout. The dropout was invented, not discovered, only being explicitly recognized after 1960. Inventing the dropout became a way to channel general concerns about the condition of cities, identifying dropouts as authors of their own troubles. (SLD)

Student mobility is a topic that frequently surfaces in discussion about the problems of urban schooling, but it is one that tends to fade from the agenda as discussion continues. Using data from the Chicago (Illinois) public elementary schools, this paper first describes the extent of urban school instability. Many schools, in fact, do not have…

This document provides a compilation of information presented at the "Cause for Applause" conference sponsored by the Urban Education Network of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL) and the Chicago (Illinois) public schools. The first section, "Strategies for Urban School Improvement," describes programs…

Reports on research conducted in poor Puerto Rican households in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) that shows the complex relationships between household members' survival strategies, residential mobility, home-school connections, and students' learning. Results from five families show that household stability is the strongest factor affecting students'…

The consequences and correlates of growing up poor as well as the mechanisms through which poverty influences children are explored. This book is organized with a primary focus on research findings and a secondary concern with policy implications. The chapters are: (1) "Poor Families, Poor Outcomes: The Well-Being of Children and Youth" (Jeanne…

The Ohio Department of Public Schools launched its Ohio Urban Schools Initiative as a commitment to systemic long-term change in the state's 24 urban districts. This report contains a framework that represents the initial phase of the Urban Schools Initiative, which developed into a collaborative effort among the school systems, state and local…

This monograph is the third in a series of polls of the leadership of America's major public school systems. In addition to surveying board members, superintendents, and other leadership staff, this poll also included urban mayors and representatives of colleges and universities who work with staff and students of the member cities of the Council…

This publication presents data and descriptive information on the status of poor children and families in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). The analysis of the information suggests that the children are poor because their families are poor and that only providing their families with adequate employment and family supports will lift these children out of the…

This report is a comprehensive study of the status of children and their families in New York City. It measures how well children are doing by using widely recognized indicators of well-being, and it measures the need, use, and accessibility of services to help children. "Keeping Track" focuses on community-level data, examining the 59…

The influence of stress as mediated or moderated by locus of control, family environment, social support, and coping style on psychological adjustment and school performance was studied for 164 urban ninth graders. External locus of control increased vulnerability for both sexes, but gender differences in other protective functions are discussed.…

The impact of the changing macroecological characteristics of cities on school performance is explored, and what can be done to reduce the achievement shortcomings among urban students from ethnic and language minority backgrounds is considered. The increase in residential segregation and thereby educational segregation in urban schools is as much…

Demonstrates how several factors interact to diminish the chances of academic success for the children of public housing, and suggests how these chances might be improved. A first step is renewed commitment to housing conditions. Reduction of class size is a strong option for increasing achievement for children. (SLD)

Martin Sanchez Jankowski conducted a 10-year study of gangs of varying ethnicity in three major cities, with a focus on New York City and Los Angeles (California). The center of his research has been in low-income areas, where gangs have been an institution for more than 150 years. Jankowski acquired experience by living with gangs from a variety…

States must ensure that all citizens, regardless of race, have real opportunities to gain the education and skills needed to achieve the American Dream. If state policies, especially economic policies, fail to acknowledge the growing numbers of poor Black undereducated and unskilled urban youth, that dream of equal opportunity will continue to be…