This study presents a model of Transformative Professional Development (TPD) for use in sustained, collaborative, professional development of teachers in urban middle school science. TPD focuses on urban science teacher change and is responsive to school climate, teacher needs, and teacher beliefs with the intention of promoting change in…

The purpose of this study was to examine urban teachers' identified strengths in varied cognitive, affective, and psychological capacities, and their impact on self-efficacy and teacher practices. Clifton and Anderson in the Gallup Organization's Strengths Quest (2004) presented compelling evidence suggesting a mind-set of "what's right with me"…

Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin examine how salary and working conditions affect the quality of instruction in the classroom. The wages of teachers relative to those of other college graduates have fallen steadily since 1940. Today, average wages differ little, however, between urban and suburban districts. In some metropolitan areas urban…

Urban schools are challenged to improve teacher retention and quality. Unfortunately, research on effective teaching and attributes of effective teachers rarely has considered urban contextual influences. The purposes of the current study were (a) to develop and validate an instrument for evaluating urban teacher attributes and (b) to determine…

This study rests on written statements made by New York City teachers and administrators. The study documents what a sample of urban teachers of mathematics and school principals in elementary, middle, and high schools state are: impediments of, as well as supports to, their productive teaching of mathematics, and their suggestions of what is…

In our current climate of standards-based reform, efforts abound to have all students reach the same goals. At the same time, other educational reforms, such as inclusion, are creating increasingly diverse populations of students in general education classrooms. Consequently, teachers often view inclusion and standards-based reform as incompatible…

How can the "revolving door" at the nation's high-poverty schools be slowed down? How can diversity be taught in teacher preparation that relates to teaching and learning? How can teachers learn to use the diverse urban classroom as a rich asset? By focusing on reconceptualizing general education studies, addressing key urban understanding and…

The objective of this book is to present techniques that urban elementary school teachers reported using successfully to handle specific problems. The information comes from a larger national study of teacher training and teaching in urban schools which used a sample of 248 teachers, none of whom had been teaching for more than five years. Half…

This study examines six teachers' responses inside and outside of their classrooms to increasingly mixed messages about how they should develop the literacy of California's youngest and most at-risk students. While they must develop highly developed knowledge and skills to teach literacy in linguistically diverse classrooms, they must also adhere…

This book focuses on research conducted in the last 20 years that shows what urban teachers can do to add new knowledge and skills to their repertoire of teaching so that students can increase their own achievement. Dedicated to the idea that all children can learn, it provides hundreds of practical educational strategies. Some approaches that are…