This paper describes how a Tennessee school district is lessening the differences in achievement between inner-city schools and their suburban counterparts by bettering the teaching staffs in the inner-city schools. The story highlights two pillars of the almost-stunning progress achieved by what were once bottom-of-the-barrel schools. One, the…

The two city districts that made the greatest strides in math on the latest national assessment relied on similar strategies: building students' conceptual math skills and investing in professional development in that subject for elementary and middle school teachers. While administrators in Boston and San Diego say that many factors were at work…