Urban Schools Service Corps, an AmeriCorps project, placed community members in schools to work on improving them. Success factors included responsiveness of the elementary schools to community help, mentoring of volunteers by professionals, diversity among corps members and school staff, and the motivation of all to work for the children. (SK)

Examination of data from 30 large urban school districts and site visits to several of these cities reveal many successful programs and a deepening concern for needs not well-served by traditional schooling. Some of these needs and programs are presented. (Author/IRT)

If school improvement efforts are to succeed, it seems clear that institutions of higher education, school districts, and state education agencies must work together to create new strategies, incentives, and options that will promote educators' learning of the new practices and perspectives that will change the core of educational practice. The…

Notes that magnet schools were established to promote racial diversity, improve scholastic standards, and provide a range of programs to satisfy individual talents and interests. Suggests the need for a better understanding of new policies on race and magnet schools; the social and political context of choice; and the consequences of reform…

Minnesota Metropolitan State College has recently been established as one of the few upper level colleges (colleges offering only junior, senior and graduate level courses) in the U.S. Just about every aspect of MMSC is unique. (1) Planning and operation of the institution have been simultaneous from the outset. (2) There is only 1 main…

Some major issues and goals of concern to the National Institute of Education are discussed. (JD)

Parental choice of schools results in racial isolation or effective integration, depending on how choice is used and regulated. The role of choice in desegregation plans is compared. The Buffalo plan is hailed as most successful in that it desegregated the schools, distributed costs and benefits fairly, and strengthened education. (VM)

Considers changing urban demography, its impact on urban education, and the recommendations of other authors in this journal issue. Calls for greater commitment by colleges and universities to improve urban school systems. (GC)

List of possible programs for improving facilities, staff, general administration, and curriculum in Catholic schools. (Author)

Questions the excess of school reforms in urban school districts, asking why reform is so prevalent and so disappointing. Focuses on three possible sets of reasons (political factors overemphasis on structural solutions, and the research base underlying the reforms being adopted). Refers to efforts undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania's…

This article compares student achievement of fourth graders in charter schools and district public schools in Newark, New Jersey. We find that Newark and New Jersey's charter schools mirror the educational inequalities of the state as a whole, as well as its Abbott Districts. The data indicate that charter schools are similar to district urban…

This document summarizes results from a study concerning the ways in which telecommunications might be used to support school reform initiatives in Chicago, Illinois, particularly of Local School Councils (LSCs) and staff development activities across a sample of 283 schools. Results from the study suggest that telecommunications can be used to…

This report presents descriptive and evaluative materials on the development of the Urban Education Network, an organization that joined 20 school districts, 11 state departments of education, and the Central Midwestern Regional Educational Lab (CEMREL), for the purpose of improving urban education. Part I of the report written by Kenneth Pickens…

This paper presents a theoretical construct that can be used to describe the implementation process of school programs in terms of a multi-dimensional model. Focusing on the research process of the Urban Education Studies, which is devoted to the identification and study of educational programs which are beginning to make inroads for the…