This paper reports on a 2-year study designed to investigate the trajectory of change in an urban 5th grade teacher as she introduces science inquiry using the Web-Based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). Data for this study included videotapes and transcripts of classroom instruction, and audiotapes and transcripts of interviews conducted with…

Citywide constructs such as "West Side" or "South Side" are spatial codes that result from more than the informal conversations of city residents. This article shows how elementary school educators in one U.S. metropolitan school district participated in the production of a local knowledge of the East Side and West Side space…

We are in the midst of what amounts to a national experiment in how best to attract, prepare, and retain teachers, particularly for high-poverty urban schools. Using data on students and teachers in grades 3-8, this study assesses the effects of pathways into teaching in New York City on the teacher workforce and on student achievement. We ask…

This study was conducted to identify and evaluate the most obvious marital anxieties of elementary and secondary public school teachers as a result of their occupation, and to develop a stress inventory to aid in the professional counseling and guidance of married teachers employed in the Chicago Public Schools. In particular, the study sought to…

Teachers know more than anyone about what the schools are like, and public school teachers know best of all whether it is wise to send one's children to a public school. Data from the U.S. Census and other sources make it clear that, in the largest urban areas, public school teachers are more likely than the public at large to enroll their…

The ExceL through Innovation grants program provides funding for elementary campuses to implement 4-year instructional and staff development programs designed to raise student achievement. All 66 campuses of the Austin Independent School District (Texas) received ExceL funding for the 1996-97 and 1997-98 school years, with the funded amount based,…

The New York City Staff Development Program for Bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers, funded by the Bureau of Bilingual Education of the New York State Education Department, was designed to serve third and fourth grade teachers who have up to 4 years of teaching experience and who are currently working with limited English…

The objective of the research reported here was to discover and describe two sets of categories used by teachers in perceiving and thinking about their students--one set common to all or nearly all teachers from inner-city schools with Afro-American enrollments; and the other set common to all or nearly all teachers from suburban schools with…

In the largest district initially placed under court-ordered faculty desegregation. The influences of teacher turnover, experience, and racial isolation on elementary school student achievement in predominantly minority schools were examined. Findings suggest that poorly planned desegregation policies can have undesirable consequences, especially…

Reports on the results from a comprehensive review of instructional practices in reading and writing elementary classrooms in Chelsea (Massachusetts) followed by a review of the corrective actions taken via the Boston University/Chelsea Public Schools Partnership and their outcomes. Children's classroom performance in reading and writing is…

Examined classroom processes in urban elementary schools identified as effective/efficient (E/E) and ineffective/inefficient (I/I), noting differences regarding students' behavior, motivation, and perception of classroom learning environment. Data from observations and student surveys indicated several classroom process differences between E/E and…

Analyzes the views of parents and teachers in an urban elementary school serving low-income, primarily white families. Interview data highlight themes of separation between home and school, the function of parent volunteers, structural barriers to more family involvement, friendship between teachers and parents, service to the school, teacher…

The purpose of this article is to profile an exemplary model of an urban public school. The Urban Waldorf School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a successful school based on a school level and within the context of traditional assessments. At Urban Waldorf learning through an arts-based curriculum engages the students in education in a meaningful…

During Winter/Spring of 2004, Danielle Cione, a 5th grade classroom teacher at New York City's PS 199, and Tanya Witek, a Teaching Artist for the New York Philharmonic School Partnership Program, planned and implemented a series of lessons exploring the relationship of the Writer's Workshop as taught in the schools and the process used by…

Few studies have explored the work of successful beginning teachers in diverse settings. This investigation follows one promising young, white elementary teacher through her student teaching in the inner city of Washington, D.C. and into her first year of teaching in a suburban, diverse Virginia school. Seven themes articulate her journey into…