This study was guided by two key questions: First, what dimensions of continuous improvement do school leaders believe are most important to foster student performance in urban K-12 schools? Second, how does Alabama compare to national leaders regarding their approach to continuous improvement? Initially developed by Meehan et al. (2002), the…

To advance cross-country understanding of parental perceptions of school climate, this study examined the psychometric properties of the Delaware School Climate Survey--Home version (DSCS-H) and also compared the parental perception of school climate among Chinese (n = 999) and American (n = 1,251) parents. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed…

The authors aimed to investigate the variability in science achievement as a function of student-, school- and country-level factors. Achievement scores of 134,123 eighth-grade students from 4,511 schools of 29 countries who participated in the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study were analyzed. Multilevel modeling results…

This article uses the analytic lens of power relations and models of power to examine how the participation of two students in an urban US eighth-grade English language arts class was symbolically and literally deleted. The researcher asks why do some students fail despite being placed in a technologically rich educational environment that…

What are the features of the school environment that make students' of color incorporation greater at some schools than at others? Prudence L. Carter seeks to answer this basic but bedeviling question through a rich comparative analysis of the organizational and group dynamics in eight schools located within four cities in the United States and…

The child population in the United States is rapidly changing and diversifying--in large part because of immigration. Today, nearly one in four US children under the age of 18 is the child of an immigrant. While research has focused on the largest of these groups (Latinos and Asians), far less academic attention has been paid to the changing Black…

Background: To identify whether school health policies and programs vary by demographic characteristics of schools, using data from the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) 2006. This study updates a similar study conducted with SHPPS 2000 data and assesses several additional policies and programs measured for the first time in SHPPS…

Teaching students in the inner city has been likened to hugging a porcupine--teachers nudge them toward success while getting pricked along the way. Many urban students perform below proficiency level and are difficult to manage. Their apathy toward completing class assignments, let alone homework, compounds the problem. As a whole, educators do…

The tendency to view immigrant students as a monolithic group has masked the needs of specific groups of students. This study gives visibility to Sierra Leonean refugee students and indicates to policy makers, administrators, and teachers provisions that would facilitate the students' integration into the school system in the United States. The…

In contrast to current education policies that conceptualize pupil learning largely in terms of standardized exam scores, we offer an alternative view, one that conceives of pupil learning as a source of insight for pupils and teachers alike. Drawing on survey data and a qualitative study of the teacher candidate experience, we explore the…

By the time youngsters reach high school in the United States, the achievement gap is immense. Some remarkable inner-city schools, however, are showing that the achievement gap can be closed, even at the middle and high school level, if poor minority kids are given the right kind of instruction. In this article, the author features six schools…

Identity formation is a critical dimension of how and why students engage in science to varying degrees. In this paper, we use the lens of identity formation, and in particular identities in practice, to make sense of how and why Melanie, over the course of sixth grade, transformed from a marginalized member of the science class with a failing…

Being that educational disparities, manifested through socioeconomic instability, were a major contributing factor to the Los Angeles riots, it is important to examine how public high schools are now shaping the postsecondary opportunities of underrepresented students. Using opportunity-to-learn (OTL) and bounded rationality as frames, this…

Every educator has a handful of students who perpetually push his or her buttons. The challenge of creating a strong, nurturing classroom community is especially difficult if you are an urban school teacher. Not because children in an urban area are inherently more wild or difficult to teach. Rather, there is a mythology about how to best…

The education of many Latino youth residing in urban communities is often hindered by fear of crime and violence occurring in places where they live and attend school. Addressing these concerns, this study tested a path model predicting school engagement that included neighborhood and school environment variables (e.g., neighborhood youth…