This article looks at the American Dream as a merit narrative to understand how it supports barriers to educational success for educators working to improve the lives of students in urban schools. Hard work/perseverance and individualism are interrogated as components of merit narratives used to sustain the American Dream. We analyze data from six…

Adopting an asset-based and resilience-building framework, the present study examines the effects of out-of-school activities on advancing the academic achievement, leadership skills, and service orientation of youth of color placed at risk who attended one of over 60 independent urban middle schools that follow the NativityMiguel model of…

This is a study that investigated the effects of Advisory program on African American high school students with specific learning disabilities. In this qualitative study the advisory program is examined through the lenses of teachers and students from a Mid East Metropolitan Area (MEMA). Three research questions guided this dissertation: (1) How…

Supporting students' mental health needs is critical in high-poverty urban school districts where many students are at risk for mental health problems. Although teacher-student relationships are at the core of student mental health promotion in the classroom, many teacher preparation programmes do not adequately prepare pre-service teachers…

After-school programs (ASPs) are learning centers that provide enrichment opportunities after regular school hours. This article examines the value these programs can add to a child's educational day, especially for urban youth who are vulnerable during after-school hours. Quality ASPs can be part of the solution to help mitigate the effects of…

Television, advertising, the Internet, music, and the proliferation of chain stores have had a homogenizing effect on children. Regardless of what type of environment they live in, the style of youth's dress, the way they talk, and how they respond to a wide range of stimuli are surprisingly similar. In spite of these similarities, the challenges…

The unique challenges faced by some youth of color living in high poverty contexts necessitate the creation of innovative, culturally relevant, group interventions. Framing the work of group counselors from a social justice perspective provides a structure for emphasizing the complex intersection of economic, political, and socio-historical issues…

Involvement by the adult community in schools and students' lives is an effective way to increase student attendance, boost morale, and improve students' perceptions about their school experience. This study examined a two-year comprehensive community intervention initiative within a high-risk junior high school, measuring its impact on student…

Teaching in an urban setting is not usually easy and sometimes leads to frustration. Some teachers have to find new and creative ways to address the challenges and situations they encounter in certain schools and with certain groups of students. This article describes each of four "bailout" structures that the author came up with to make…

Urban gifted children encounter many forces that derail the development of their full potential. A report by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and Civic Enterprises found that more than a million children in poverty rank in the top quartile academically, but few of these children will find adequate opportunities to fulfill such potential in urban…

In recent years, schools have become a focal point for general delinquency and gang prevention programs for a variety of reasons. One premise behind this approach is that schools can serve as ideal settings for providing delinquency and intervention services because youths spend so much time there. School-based gang prevention efforts are supposed…

Students attacking other students. Students attacking teachers, support staff, and even community members. Disrespectful and threatening language, overwhelmed or inattentive parents, and an administrative system that often appears unable to bring back order in the classroom. These are stories have become an everyday part of teaching in urban…

While America fights an international war on terrorism a greater war looms in our own backyard. Poverty, the lack of resources and a failing educational system continues to strangle our urban youth. Violence between youth in urban schools perplexes our society everyday. Within this context lie the ever growing confrontation between black and…

How can we better educate disadvantaged urban students? Drawing on over five years' experience in a broad partnership involving twelve urban professional development schools in five districts, a teachers' union, a comprehensive public university, and several community-based organizations, the contributors to this volume describe how they worked…

In this essay, Jeff Duncan-Andrade explores the concept of hope, which was central to the Obama campaign, as essential for nurturing urban youth. He first identifies three forms of "false hope"--hokey hope, mythical hope, and hope deferred--pervasive in and peddled by many urban schools. Discussion of these false hopes then gives way to…