With the enactment of the NCLB mandates, emphasis on high-stakes testing became more prevalent than ever. Some argue that high-stakes tests can be a driving force behind fundamental change in schools. Whether or not this type of test-driven change leads to school improvement is an empirical question. What we do know is that high-stake testing can…

This study explores urban teachers' perception of their mentoring experience in an alternative urban teacher education program. Fifteen teachers who had been teaching in urban schools for at least three years participated in focus groups. The findings support the need for continuing the development of new teachers through utilizing mentors in the…

Studied perspectives of 192 principals and 148 teachers in urban schools with regard to the challenges of urban teaching. Findings suggest that many of the challenge areas suggested in the literature on urban teachers were not ranked as very important by these educators, making the point that not all urban schools face the same challenges. (SLD)

This article considers the ways in which 17 novice teachers define and describe effective urban teaching and the stark contrasts that these teachers draw between effective urban teaching and effective teaching. The authors find that descriptions of students played a considerable role when participants made distinctions between effective teaching…

This article is a description of the perceptions of pre-service teachers who have chosen to study in a teacher education program designed specifically to prepare them to work in urban elementary schools. Twelve volunteer participants were interviewed in the spring following their admission into the program. Participants and the researcher also…

This article examines the interrelationship between teachers and their work of teaching, as observed in a study conducted in 1969 in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and intended to assess the extent and kind of attachments which secondary school teachers hold for their teaching when the total of life attachments and interactions is taken into account.…

Analyzes why teachers leave urban schools and their subsequent employment, using the questionnaire responses of 50 of the 124 teachers who left the Milwaukee (Wisconsin) public schools in 1988. Finds that 90 percent of the "leavers" find teaching jobs in other schools. Suggests how the problems cited by the leavers could be ameliorated.…

The word "attitude" has different meanings. While some educators wish their students had less attitude, others are looking for ways to help students develop the kind of questioning, critical attitude that will allow them to interrogate and rethink what they already know or take for granted. This article describes a teacher education program that…

A survey of 185 teachers and administrators in Chicago indicated some differences of opinion on a ruling that teachers must reside in the city. Minorities (blacks and Latinos) and those who lived in the city favored the residency ruling. These responses could be influenced by economic and social concerns. Teachers who lived in the suburbs…

This booklet is a nontechnical summary of an extensive sociological investigation of the Teacher Corps, which was restricted to 10 universities and 42 schools. Data drawn from observation, questionnaires, and interviews with teachers, professors, and interns are used to present a composite picture of the program. The document includes a history of…

States are establishing high stakes assessments to serve as a measurement tool of students' academic abilities. This study essentially explored and sought to understand some of Maryland's mathematics and science practitioners' perspectives on increase testing, and the No Child left Behind (NCLB) Act. Basically, the study sought to understand and…

The purpose of this interpretive study is to situate teachers' understanding and interpretation of their experiences with indigenous students in city schools. This qualitative study examines six teachers' perspectives of indigenous students and reveals factors that potentially impede or promote the success of indigenous students in Taiwanese urban…

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding what is involved in improving urban science teaching and what might be implied by conducting research on its improvement. Believes that three sets of forces and conditions have a direct impact on urban science classrooms. Suggests how this framework can direct research. (Contains 28 references.)…

This paper deals with six sets of concerns and suggestions that arise as attitudes toward urban teaching are assessed. The first set arises from the complexity of measuring attitudes. It is strongly recommended that critiques of attitude data be based on plausible rival hypotheses. The second set involves the identification of beliefs related to a…

A study was conducted to develop data concerning the reactions of student teachers to contact with urban, black pupils. Subjects were 130 junior year student teachers (all but two of them white) who were assigned by their state college to four elementary schools in a small city school system. A 34-item questionnaire designed to tap attitudes…