Uses event-history analysis to explore whether and how grade retention influenced graduation outcomes for a cohort of 707 youths from an urban school system. Repeating a grade from kindergarten to grade 6 was associated with an increase in the odds of dropping out. Explores the impact of being over age for grade. (SLD)

Discusses seven of the most common myths and misconceptions about students at risk, and argues that the Goals 2000 educational reform movement could result in negative consequences for this group unless policymakers and practitioners develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of this population. (SLD)

One key to effective conceptual change teaching is to discover each student's conceptions about the conditions before instruction. The teacher then provides experiences that create dissatisfaction with existing ideas and models a new conception that is intelligible, plausible, and fruitful. The purpose of the Acorn Project of the Chicago office of…

In 1996, drawing from religious, educational, social services, media, neighborhoods, nonprofits, and health-providing sectors of the community, the Phoenix Violence Prevention Initiative (PVPI) was conceived. During Phase One of the initiative, the following seven points regarding prevention and prevention design strategies were assembled: (1)…

Covenant House Texas (CHT) is a nonprofit corporation that provides emergency shelter and related services for children and youth in crisis situations. The Texas Education Agency requires an annual evaluation of all programs receiving state compensatory education funds, and the On-Site School program of CHT was evaluated under this provision. The…

This study analyzed the relationship between urban and rural cultures and subjects' selection of attributes and groupings in a task of equivalence formation. Participants were 236 subjects, ages 6, 12, and 17, from rural and urban Argentina and from New York City. Subjects were administered an Equivalence Task consisting of two arrays of stimuli.…

A teaching strategy for grades 4-8 to develop social studies goals of social participation, citizenship, decision-making, and intellectual skills. (ND)

In this paper, perspectives for planning future research in urban education are suggested. Results of a review of data from almost 600 large city programs on action learning, basic skills, cultural pluralism and school-community interaction are listed. A selective bibliography on urban education covers the problems of educating urban youth, fiscal…

This study estimates the relationship between parental welfare receipt and children's adulthood educational attainment. Data come from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The PSID is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. families conducted by the Survey Research Center of the University of Michigan.…

Argues that definition of African American vernacular English is essential for linguists and for nonlinguists who define the language based on their personal relationships to the sociocultural matrix in which it is embedded. There is a need to resolve conflicts about the use of black English in the face of the complexity of responses toward it.…

Discusses the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative. Argues that educational policies and recommendations for educational reform in the absence of restructuring our social commitments to address oppression and poverty will be of little benefit to the many children who live under such circumstances. (JRH)

Discusses whether white male teachers can be positive role models for at-risk black male youth and concludes that they can if they are men of integrity who are willing to take on the risks associated with being a dedicated teacher. (SLD)

Argues that blending school psychology and school counseling training to produce comprehensive mental health specialists is a way to address the identified social and emotional needs of children in urban schools. Such specialists could result in more comprehensive, coordinated school mental health services and lead to improved academic…

"Creating the Dropout" traces the history of school leaving and the concept of the dropout. The dropout was invented, not discovered, only being explicitly recognized after 1960. Inventing the dropout became a way to channel general concerns about the condition of cities, identifying dropouts as authors of their own troubles. (SLD)

In the fall of 1992, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III) scores from 330 referred children in an urban midwestern school district were analyzed to provide information regarding score distribution of the referred population and of the ethnic and gender profiles within the referred group, and to examine changes from prior…