Based on visits to 11 schools in 6 urban areas across the country, this article describes the perspectives and behavioral responses of school staff to "reaching out" policies that lead schools to form partnerships with parents and community organizations for the purpose of enhancing children's development and academic achievement. All of…

This evaluation of the alternative and partnership schools of the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) public schools (MPS) was commissioned in 1992 and continued in 1993 to provide a qualitative description of the MPS alternative and partnership school network and to give the school system an assessment of each of the programs to determine its viability.…

The following two types of student mobility stand out as causing educational problems: (1) inner-city mobility, which is prompted largely by fluctuations in the job market; and (2) intra-city mobility, which is caused by upward mobility or by poverty and homelessness. Most research indicates that high mobility negatively affects student…

Direct interviews with 17 teachers and observation in 31 rural and urban Venezuelan classrooms (pre-school through grade 6 in nine schools) across 3 states revealed serious reading difficulties among Venezuelan students. Small rooms and multi-grade class situations were common and school supplies and equipment were scarce. Even more scarce were…

This report identifies the strategies that multiproblem urban school districts have used to make major improvements in recent years. A panel of experts familiar with urban school systems nominated over 30 candidate urban districts for study. The following districts were chosen for analysis: (1) Atlanta (Georgia); (2) Cincinnati (Ohio); (3) Memphis…

The testimony presented in this report addresses the effects of recent reforms on the achievement of disadvantaged students, their dropout rates, and their enrollments in vocational education. An evaluation of programs in four large-city school districts revealed that educational reform has been neither a disaster nor a boon for the performance of…

New Jersey has proposed state and local programs to help solve educational problems in the areas of the teaching profession, student performance, and educational leadership. To continue a supply of talented teachers, the state has developed initiatives such as a minimum salary increase, a recruitment program for top high school graduates, reformed…

This pilot-year report comments on the efficiency and current status of strategies for improved urban education. By pooled judgement and survey methodologies, program data from thirty cities, student interviews from site visits, and study team observations of five city districts (Atlanta, Dallas, Milwaukee, Oakland and Toledo) are examined. Urban…

This volume, a continuation of Volume I, presents Part VIII of the report and 12 appendixes. Part VIII is comprised of case studies of the activities of field agents in three states that are the target areas of the Pilot State Dissemination Program. The areas are designated "Southern Small Town,""The Hazelton Districts," and…

In recent years, federal mandates in education have become the subject of increasing debate. Adam R. Nelson's "The Elusive Ideal"--a postwar history of federal involvement in the Boston public schools--provides lessons from the past that shed light on the continuing struggles of urban public schools today. This far-reaching analysis…

How educational leaders can be prepared to carry out their responsibilities in an effective and sensitive fashion is explored in the context of an urban, diverse school environment by describing the Assistant Principal Leadership Academy of the Ysleta Independent School District, El Paso (Texas). The Academy is a unique professional development…

Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams) is a not-for-profit school-community collaborative designed to improve instructional quality and culture within at-risk feeder school systems in inner cities. This research-based school reform model reforms large urban school systems through incremental expansion, one K-12 feeder cluster at a time.…

Massachusetts 2020 is a nonprofit operating foundation with a mission to expand educational and economic opportunities for children and families across Massachusetts. Massachusetts 2020, with support from the L.G. Balfour Foundation, a Bank of America Company, set out to understand how a select group of extended-time schools in Massachusetts and…

Identifies six conditions influencing urban high school teachers to participate in and support schoolwide programs to improve learning and teaching through administrative, organizational, instructional change. Focus is on teachers in three Massachusetts schools. Reforms must address social and academic needs of students as well as teacher…

Identifies the need for educational reformers to address the psychological problems of low-income urban and rural minority students. It is argued that the educational reform movement must be much more proactive in using the existing knowledge base of counseling and psychological support services personnel. (SLD)