Accelerating the acquisition of reading skills in at-risk third- through sixth-grade students is critically important if educators expect to meet federal and state performance targets and also meet children's needs. In an attempt to rapidly advance learning in reading, a large urban school district provided a group of 2,227 students performing…

This study compared New American Schools (NAS) classrooms to non-NAS classrooms in the high poverty San Antonio, Texas, school district. NAS promoted whole-school reform to address lagging achievement and lackluster school reform attempts that produced little meaningful change. The study investigated whether NAS designs extended beyond changes in…

Elaborated a theoretical rationale for relational networks, norms, and trust as structural and functional norms of social capital that facilitate student achievement. Results of hierarchical generalized linear modeling show that the odds of fourth graders passing state-mandated assessments are modestly increased in urban schools (n=49)…

Compared two single-sex and two coeducational fifth-grade classes (90 students) from inner-city schools for academic achievement. Class grades were consistently higher in the single-sex classes, although the difference was not always statistically significant. Standardized-test data showed no trend, although coeducational groups performed better…

In the 1982-1983 school year, the Public Education Association, an educational advocacy organization in New York City, undertook an action research project on young adolescents' stress in school. The project was located in one inner-city intermediate school for 4 years and is now following graduates of that school in the city's high schools. As…

This minimal intervention experiment was carried out in the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade classrooms of 32 volunteer teachers. Six training packets were mailed to teachers and minimal before and after training classroom observations were conducted. Analysis showed no significant changes in teaching practices or student achievement. (BS)

This paper describes the status of the standards movement in relation to the middle grades and in terms of the policy context of the 1990s. It also outlines the potential of standards-guided reform at the middle level. By the early years of the 1990s, two key assumptions characterized the new wave of proposed reforms: that schools needed to…

Examines a program for newly arrived, non-English-speaking immigrant children in a California city. Findings from a fourth-grade class demonstrate how a nurturing setting, culturally flexible teaching approach, linguistic and cultural validation, and a valued spatial environment contribute to newcomer students' success. (SLD)

Classroom discourse has participation structures that can be interpreted as the verbal equivalents of being sent to the corner, and when these structures operate repeatedly enough, educational authority and resistance become locked into ongoing opposition. The discursive details of classroom life, from a poststructuralist perspective, are what…

This paper summarizes research related to parental involvement and academic achievement in urban schools, and discusses an approach to parent participation in an urban school in Minnesota. It includes discussion of barriers, values, visionary leadership, achievement, action plans, and conclusions. Barriers to parental involvement include language,…

This book is a study of the impact that changes in living environments (i.e. from homelessness in a shelter to a family's own dwelling unit) have on the academic achievement of school-age children. The study samples seven cases of public school children in grades 5 through 8 during the years 1988 to 1991. The children lived in the same shelter and…

In the largest district initially placed under court-ordered faculty desegregation. The influences of teacher turnover, experience, and racial isolation on elementary school student achievement in predominantly minority schools were examined. Findings suggest that poorly planned desegregation policies can have undesirable consequences, especially…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) adopted the middle school concept in 1987-88. Generally, the middle school setting serves students between the ages of 11 and 14 and includes grades 6 through 8. In 1995-96, five middle schools met the criteria for funding under Title I. To make middle schools more responsive to the special needs of…

The Talent Development Middle School model is a comprehensive school-change design aimed at raising the academic proficiency of all children in schools where large proportions of children are at risk of failure. Thirty-one teachers in two Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) public middle schools where the model has been piloted evaluated the…

The Wayne State University Public School (UPS), Detroit (Michigan), a university-operated charter middle school, is strongly influenced by the educational reform movement. The evolution of UPS is documented as a case study of educational reform in the 1990s, focusing on the 1994-95 school year. The school is in an urban area marked by poverty and…