Presents multilevel analyses of a large-scale educational improvement effort conducted in seven urban schools over a two-year period. Consistent high-to-moderate relationships were found between observed level of model implementation and classroom achievement gains in reading. Concludes that major improvement in inner-city schools is possible. (DR)

School reformers have been calling for reductions in the size of large urban districts. A statutory approach to devolution is available in many states: citizens petition the appropriate government authority for district reorganization, or detachment, from the school district in which they are located. Illinois law and court decisions are used to…

Reports an analysis of collaborative activities supported by postsecondary institutions in Cleveland (Ohio) aimed at improving Cleveland's public schools. A survey identified 105 school-college partnerships during the 1987-88 school year. Discusses the nature and needs of ongoing collaborative efforts within a large urban district. Considers the…

Hearings before the House of Representatives served as a public forum for representatives from the District of Columbia City Council, academia, local schools including the City of Baltimore, Maryland, and the private sector to share their experiences, successes, and concerns about the education of children in urban areas. The chairman of the…

This book is a comparative analysis of the tensions, compromises and conflicts over school reform in four urban school systems in the United States. In examining the contradictory forces that shaped urban education in the U.S., it illuminates how grassroots movements operated during the early twentieth century. Unlike many of the standard…

Contemporary problems in urban education are explored in this collection of papers. The leading article discusses the implications of urban decay and demographic change for school finance and educational accountability. The second paper stresses the need for a basic skills curriculum, well-trained teachers, and the inclusion of parents in…

In spite of the efforts of the Ford Foundation's Great Cities School Improvement Program in ten large city school systems to provide quality education to children and youth from the ghettos of America's cities, this problem remains unsolved. Cities have never been able to do an adequate job of educating the poor, the immigrants, and the…

As one component of the Midwest Center/Consortium for Planned Change, the Ohio Satellite aimed at making public schools aware of the need for the structuring of a fully-functioning guidance program, with teaming as a viable change and problem-solving process. A third goal was the recruitment of minority group members as "new…

The Urban Adult Learning Center's (UALC) primary goal is to improve and expand the educational and employment opportunities for all residents in the Portland Model Cities target area who are 16 years of age or older and who have not reached the eighth grade educational level. The Phase Two Foundation section reviews historical background and goals…

The main thesis of this paper is that innovative changes in both urban metapolicy and in urban education are needed to meet present and future urban problems. Metapolicy deals with policies on policymaking, including the characteristics of the policymaking system and basic policy frameworks and postures. Unless urban metapolicy is improved, no…

Describes the efforts of the staff of one urban high school in Mississippi to develop and implement a school improvement program based on a school effectiveness model. (FL)

The Atlanta school superintendent describes the city's concerns and strengths in conjunction with policies devoted to improving students' academic achievement and career preparation and placement. Strategies implemented include winning principals' cooperation, inservice teacher training in reading and mathematics, partnership with businesses, and…

Author relates experiences as a new black principal, facing at first a hostile group of non-productive teachers in a school with many problems. Chronologically presents the changes the school underwent to become one with greatly improved teaching and one in which the students disliked to be absent. (DM)

Discusses three concerns about inequities in public education: the national movement to write off poor urban students (and growing pressure to privatize public schooling), the sense of hopelessness in the literature on public education, and the lack of action in creating educational change and improvement. (SM)

Examines Education Action Zone (EAZ) policy as a basis for the development of an analytic framework for investigating contemporary forms of leadership and management within schools in urban and challenging contexts. Discussion explores three paired themes: "Networking and experimentation,""partnership and stakeholder…