School gardens have been an active part of United States schools since 1890, when the first school garden was established in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Since the turn of the 20th century school gardens have greatly expanded to include inner city schools in some of the largest metropolitan areas of the country. Since the early 1990s, school gardens…

The Atlanta Urban Debate League was established in 1985 as an after school program focused on providing debate outreach to high school students in the Atlanta public schools. Still in operation today, volunteers work with current students in public middle and high schools in Atlanta, supporting students as they practice reading, writing, speaking…

The transition from middle school to high school can be difficult for many students due to increases in school size, the structure of an academic schedule, and the complexity of social interactions in high school. However, Black boys face unique challenges during this transition period due to racism and structural inequalities. In response to…

Recent attention to youth activism for school reform reveals positive student outcomes. Yet educators may object to the use of social actions in schools, diminishing opportunities for these benefits to accrue. This paper analyzes educators' conceptions about the proper exercise of student voice within schools and how these coincide with…

Access to quality mathematics content and instruction has been equated as a civil right (Moses & Cobb, 2001). However, access to empowering mathematics is not a reality for many urban youth. Data show an achievement gap between Black, Hispanic and American Indian students and their peers which, in turn, result in unequal access to education and…

The purpose of this study was to explore urban teachers' praxis with historically marginalized youth. Specifically I examined of the role of hope and armed love, as well as critical pedagogy as conceptualized and implemented in urban classrooms. The basis for this is the continued educational inequities for urban youth, and an exploration of the…

Many American citizens have remained outside of the political process and therefore have not been able to effectively advocate for the full rights, privileges and responsibilities that American citizenship makes possible. For youth from historically marginalized populations who are growing up in lower-income urban areas, the issue becomes…

The study examines how urban school principals lead schools that make a difference for children in challenging settings. This research delves deeply into the experiences of three urban public school principals in the School District of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, who used technology as an avenue to improve educational options for their students.…

This case study chronicles the lives of 20 inner-city adolescents and their experiences in and out of school. It explores the social construction of reality among these seventh and eighth graders and refutes the myth that these disadvantaged students suffer from cognitive deficits. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction"; (2) "The…

No tool has promoted educational reform more completely than coordinated school-linked services. This paper integrates results of a cross-program analysis examining 6 coordinated school-linked service programs for widely implemented practices and results of a quantitative synthesis of 44 studies of the effects of school-linked programs on…

The educational processes for youth who participated in a county-run correctional facility for juvenile offenders were studied. The county's Leadership Academy, a 48-bed correctional treatment center where juveniles are placed when ordered into direct care, is designed to divert repeat male offenders from the state-run correctional system. The…

This paper uses case studies to introduce a method by which educators in a graduate course transformed the ways in which they saw the students with whom they worked as they situated themselves within the context of "at-riskness." Four white women, all of whom worked with at-risk youth, took a graduate course on the educational challenges of youth…

Case studies of two urban adolescents interviewed over 3 years of high school show the complexities of life in the city for minority students and demonstrate the importance of supportive relationships in their lives. The chapters are: (1) "Interpreting Narratives"; (2) "A Study of Urban Youth"; (3) "Malcolm's Story"; (4) "Voice and Silence"; (5)…

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…

The case study of the relationship between classroom life and home for a minority child in an urban school illustrates the complex influences the home has on the child and the ways in which a culturally sensitive teacher can interact with parents in planning for the child's education. The teacher of a combined second-third grade at an urban school…