Discusses how and why educators' attempts at detracking by providing students and parents with greater freedom of "choice" often results in little movement of low- and middle-track students into high-track classes. Data from six racially mixed high schools show the different institutional barriers, the students' tracked aspirations, and the desire…

School choice is increasingly promulgated as a promising education reform policy for failing urban schools, but no solid evidence has yet shown the promise fulfilled. The authors argue that choice based on market theory without a moral center is insufficient. Without a moral foundation, such market-driven choice programs may actually disadvantage…

The present study evaluated the impact of Urban Improv (UI), a theater-based youth violence prevention (YVP) program developed for inner-city youth, on three behavioral and psychological outcome domains: aggressive behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and scholastic attention and engagement. This study compared outcomes for 77 elementary school…

The sample of trainees included in this study was selected from 100 black trainees who entered the program of the Urban Job Corps Training Center, in Utah, during the Month of August, 1972; of those, 25 black trainees were selected by use of the Monte Carlo method. (Author/JM)

This publication presents essays written by seven young, urban, minority students participating in an intensive writing workshop given by What Kids Can Do in collaboration with the Margins to Mainstream project. The goal of the workshop was to coach students to create short essays suitable for use as a newspaper column, radio commentary, or…

With a sample of 64 secondary school classes in Montreal, the predictive validity of a set of 15 learning environment scales was tested in eight subject areas. (Authors)

Julius Bennett was once a disinterested student destined to become a dropout. Then he enrolled in Amistad Academy, an academically focused charter middle school intent on narrowing the achievement gap between urban and suburban kids located in New Haven, Connecticut. Now Julius is making plans for college. In this article the author details the…

Children spend more time in school than in any social institution outside the home. And schools probably exert more influence on children's development and life chances than any environment beyond the home and neighbourhood. The purpose of this book is to document some important ways schools influence children's development and to describe various…

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…

Two of the most widely used academic self-efficacy assessment techniques, problem-referenced measurement and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) were compared. Participants were 383 high school students from 4 Los Angeles (California) schools. Multi-trait multi-method analyses revealed that the two techniques were not…

School choice for poor children is likely to be an issue in many state and congressional races. Lawmakers and parents need to pay close attention to the quality of academic evaluations of school choice programs. Evaluations of the program in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) provide a case in point. In 1990, Milwaukee instituted the nation's first publicly…

Disadvantaged rural and urban intermediate grade children were administered the Michigan State Self-Concept-of-Academic Ability Scale to ascertain any difference in perceived self-concept-of-academic ability due to residential setting (rural vs. urban). Grade level differences were found. (Author/CS)

This study explored the academic and physical barriers that homeless children in Utah encountered on a daily basis in a structured educational setting. The project was conducted in a shelter and resource center in Salt Lake City. Data were collected from 1 male and 14 female adults and 15 children, representing 15 families. A perceived barriers…

Hispanics in New York, like those in other parts of the country, are younger and poorer than other minorities, and are more likely to live in metropolitan areas. This report provides a comprehensive review of the current condition of education for Hispanic New Yorkers. Hispanics represent 12% of the state's population and are concentrated in New…