Discusses the controversy over the use of Ebonics in the Oakland (California) schools and presents two schools of thought about the origin of Ebonics, the pidgin/Creole and the African retention theories. Three research studies are described that support the use of Ebonics in the classroom as a bridge to standard English. (SLD)

Evaluation of a proactive behavioral approach to teaching prosocial behavior was evaluated in six urban elementary physical education classes. Results demonstrated positive across-grade trends in student leadership and teacher-independent conflict resolution behaviors, marked decreases in student off-task behavior, less teacher-directed and more…

Interactive Drama for Education and Awareness in the Schools (IDEAS) is an artist-in-residency program designed for classroom use by deaf adolescents and their teachers in urban areas. Using dramatic role playing, sign language, and drama-based teaching methods, the program presents content and provokes discussion in three broad categories:…

Summarizes major findings and implications from research on the characteristics of effective classrooms and on characteristics that distinguish schools that have unusually high student achievement from those that enroll similar groups of students with much lower achievement. Discusses how these findings relate to improving achievement in city…

A publication prepared by the Office of Education is one of a series of four which discuss the education of disadvantaged children. Focusing on grades four, five, and six, this document presents some general background material on the disadvantaged and notes some promising practices. Also included are brief descriptions of special programs in…

Unit three of the third grade level of the FICSS series (Focus on Inner City Social Studies -- SO 008 271) continues the study of some of the major social institutions which affect students' lives. The unit focuses specifically on the local business community. The ways in which businesses get started, the kinds of local businesses, some problems…

The tenth grade unit of the FICSS series (Focus on Inner City Social Studies -- see SO 008 271) deals with the political-economic systems in the United States. The first unit of the sequence focuses specifically on capitalism in a democracy. The document deals with both the theoretical and practical aspects of capitalism. The theoretical section…

The effectiveness of a diagnostic teaching program in teaching reading to emotionally disturbed and socially maladjusted boys in two schools in New York City was investigated. The diagnostic teaching program specified behavioral objectives which fit the individual student, prescribed instructional styles for the teacher, and outlined techniques of…

Concludes that White student teachers in predominately Hispanic schools were more concerned about curriculum implementation and teaching methodology than about problems relating to cultural variation. (FL)

Over a six-week period, students (N=19) with learning disabilities in an inner-city middle school were taught the chronological order of the U.S. presidents. Half the time a modified mnemonic keyword-pegword strategy was used and the other half rehearsal and representational pictures. Delayed posttesting revealed a significant main effect for…

Argues that the key to success with at-risk students is to expand the scope and the extent of actual, active student participation in planning, implementing, and evaluating courses of study. Describes how one teacher does so in her literature classes at an innercity school for high-risk students. (SR)

Discusses teaching Advanced Placement (AP) U.S. history at an urban, minority high school. Addresses student recruitment; using a summer assignment; notetaking and the Document-Based Quiz, various teaching strategies; preparing and reviewing for the AP examination; using special events; and the importance of professional development and…

The change needed in urban music education not only relates to the idea that music should be at the center of the curriculum; rather, it is that culturally relevant music should be a creative force at the center of reform in urban education. Teaching Music in the Urban Classroom: A Guide to Survival, Success, and Reform is the start of a…

Contemporary reforms lobby for deep changes in mathematics teaching and learning, yet classroom practice continues, in many places, to be as conventional as ever. This study examines how one mid-sized urban school district marshaled resources for change in mathematics instruction. The study involved a 3-year observation of a small group of…

This paper examines the educational needs of rural students and suggests ways that college programs can be adapted to the learning characteristics of rural students. Rural students are likely to be global learners, have a strong preference for cooperation, view learning as a social experience, have an aversion to individual recognition, experience…