For over three decades now, the use of digital devices and media has had a growing impact on educational and teaching practices in schools. Though ethnographic research has documented some of these effects, it has often done so from the neutral perspective of a non-partisan participant-observer and recorder-reporter of the events that unfold. The…

This article presents findings from an education design research program to advance the development of the Cultural Proficiency Continuum Dialogic Protocol (CPCDP). The CPCDP is a primary data source that uses andragogical and asset-based pedagogies and approaches to assess and codify educators' cultural competence systematically. Findings…

The disconnect between educational researchers and practitioners has been prevalent since the 1900s. Researchers often conduct inapplicable, inaccessible studies, teachers often inadvertently use teaching methods that are not empirically supported, and administrators can be highly disconnected from student needs (Broekkamp & van Hout-Wolters,…

Educational scholars have argued that poverty can hamper student achievement. In this critical discussion paper, we provide a historiography of how urban poverty increased in America over the last 30 years of the 20th century. We contend that educators and educational researchers working in P-12 urban schools should understand how federal urban…

In the past decade, research-practice partnerships (RPPs) have grown in number and reputation. Stephanie Brown and Annie Allen describe the varied ways partnerships facilitate more sustained and productive relationships between researchers and practitioners. They share key findings from a comparative case study of three different types of RPPs…

This paper contextualizes contemporary urban teachers' online dissent in public discussions of education reform in relation to past educational crisis narratives to interpret recent shifts in the structure of education reform dialogue in the United States. It does so by examining the form and content of compositions in which teachers respond to…

"Urban Teaching in America: Theory, Research, and Practice in K-12 Classrooms" is a brief yet comprehensive overview of urban teaching. Undergraduate and graduate students who are new to the urban context will develop a deeper understanding of the urban teaching environment and the challenges and opportunities they can expect to face while…

University-school-community partnerships represent a collaborative model of urban educational reformation inclusive of all the organizations that impact urban education. Co-constructed relationships among communities, schools, and universities have the potential for redistributing hierarchical power, thereby enabling all partners to contribute to…

Since the introduction of the Coleman Report (1966), the focus on closing the achievement gap has been a critical component of educational policy for political leaders and field research by educators. The economic crisis which California and the nation at large currently face creates a challenging situation in attempting to narrow the gap.…

The evaluation of a school improvement program for elementary schools (School Effectiveness Training) and for secondary schools (Secondary School Development Program) provided an opportunity to determine if user participation could increase knowledge use. It was hypothesized that program staff participation might be a solution to the dilemma of…

In 1976 and 1977, the New York region team of the Documentation and Technical Assistance Project (DTA), Center for New Schools (Chicago, Illinois), conducted 12 seminars on major issues concerning school improvement, based on observations by documentation teams in nine school community sites. The information is then disseminated to technical…

Chapters in this book were written by members of the Multicultural Collaborative for Literacy and Secondary Schools (the M-CLASS Project), a national teacher-researcher network of English and social studies teachers and university faculty from four cities. Their essays deal with classroom research on learning, diversity, bias, inequality, and real…

Examined the motivational effects of a teacher research initiative within an urban alternative school, studying participating teachers' self-efficacy, empowerment, collaboration, and perceptions of school climate via surveys, interviews, observations, and field notes. Growth occurred in general and personal teaching efficacies from pretest to…

An action research study addresses validity and value in teacher education by discussing thematic constructs and making specific normative underpinnings explicit. Concerned with developing teachers' abilities to create democratic classrooms and dispositions toward social justice, this study is a multi-layered, longitudinal inquiry into classroom…

Discusses anthropology's role in policy-relevant educational research, drawing on experiences in evaluating Chicago (Illinois) city schools' restructuring. Questions raised by case studies in school restructuring include qualitative researchers' role in studying educational policy, issues of objectivity in policy research, and networking…