The overall achievement levels of Somali students in Minnesota's urban schools are considerably lower than their peers. The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), 2023) reported that only 5% of all tested Black or African American students identified as English language learners met or exceeded the standards in science, 21.7% in reading, and…

The School Questionnaire was administered as part of the 2017-18 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), which is a state and nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The selected school samples include about 10,600 traditional and…

Physical health may be an important variable that influences students' behavioral and academic performance in school settings. Poor health status is hypothesized to negatively influence student performance even in the presence of evidence-based practices. In this study, teachers reported their perceptions of students' health status as well as…

The development of civically engaged citizens is vital for democratic societies. Although several studies have explored children and adolescents' conceptualizations of civic engagement, less is known about youths' understanding of the individual skills and attributes best suited for civic action. The current study utilized a Q-sort methodology to…

This report provides a new resource for understanding the state of urban public schools in the U.S. Geared specifically toward city leaders who want to evaluate how well traditional district and charter schools are serving all their city's children and how their schools compare to those in other cities, the report measures outcomes for all public…

Every step in a student's life is important for future success. Schools are building stronger frameworks of curricula, instruction and assessments to prepare students to move from one learning environment to another with maximum results as they journey toward adulthood. This issue of "High Schools That Work" contains examples of…

Background: To achieve high participation rates and a representative sample, active parent consent procedures require a significant investment of study resources. The purpose of this article is to describe processes and outcomes of utilizing active parent consent procedures with sixth-grade students from urban, ethnically diverse, economically…

This project entailed a three-year efficacy evaluation of the Computer and Team Assisted Mathematical Acceleration (CATAMA) Lab developed by the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University. The CATAMA Lab was proposed as an immediate and practical approach to addressing the different types of math deficits held by…

Personality type concepts have been introduced at Anwatin Middle School, an urban middle school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where nearly two-thirds of the students receive reduced price or free lunches. In Anwatin's diverse climate--approximately 70% of Anwatin's students are students of color, mostly Black and Hmong--looking at personality…

Physical activity levels in girls decline dramatically during adolescence, most profoundly among minorities. To explore ethnic and racial variation in attitudes toward physical activity, semistructured interviews (n = 80) and physical activity checklists (n = 130) are conducted with African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian middle school girls in…