What will it take for urban schools to achieve the kind of academic performance required by new state and national educational standards? How can classroom teachers in city schools help to close the achievement gap? What can restore public confidence in public schools? Pedro Noguera argues that higher standards and more tests, by themselves, will…

Discusses the physical and psychological environment in which urban education takes place and the circumstances under which teachers are assigned to urban schools of high or low quality, using data from several national surveys. (JM)

Examines the problems of introducing a new science curriculum to three inner-city elementary schools in Atlanta which are characterized by continual educational failure. (JM)

Tests predictions that peripheral as compared with inner city and traditional schools will have the largest percentage of teachers who are not only younger, teaching in elementary grades, females, white, and less experienced but also positive toward students and teaching. (JM)

Offers suggestions for using modeling and mentoring in urban teacher education in the belief that the power of models and mentors resides more in their being and behaving than in the finished products. Good role models live their ethics and beliefs personally and professionally. (SLD)

In this paper I examine how and to what extent various elements of my biography--race, ethnicity, gender, age, social class background, and prior personal and professional experiences--influenced my relationships with students in a graduate course examining the impact of race, gender, and social class on education. My lived experiences as an…

In this article, the author presents five valuable lessons on how an overseas educational consultant relates to concerns about preparing teachers to work in inner-city ghetto schools. The first lesson is learning to communicate and commune with another culture. Second, is seeing educational problems in a broadened social context. Third, is…

Student teaching is only a successful experience if it assists the prospective teacher in developing effective classroom control techniques and evolving a personal teaching style. In order to make student teaching useful, four factors should be considered. First, profiles should be developed on the student teacher and the cooperating teacher…

Nearly everyone involved in the enterprise of schooling understands the profound importance of building and sustaining a high-quality team of teachers. Moreover, the research is clear: the single most important school-based determinant of student achievement is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. Yet, urban schools must often staff their…

This paper examines and compares two groups of urban and suburban minority school district educators in an effort to discover the qualities and conditions that make them effective and potential models for other teachers. One group of four teachers is from an inner-city day care and afterschool center. The program has a history of commitment to…

This book attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of the major leadership issues facing urban schools. It also provides practical recommendations for improvement to address the challenges of urban school reform. The chapters are: (1) "Circular Hopelessness, Poverty, and Urban Schools"; (2) "Academic Achievement and Parental Involvement in…

Reviews the literature on mentoring teachers, focusing on bilingual and bicultural education and emphasizing issues relevant in urban settings. An interactive model of mentoring is proposed in which bilingual teachers, whether mentors or new teachers, can share perspectives sorely needed in this age of increasing cultural diversity. (SLD)

Background: It is critical to understand the contextual factors in schools that influence teaching behaviours and student learning outcomes. This study uses a contextual framework with four domain areas (personal, instructional, institutional, and societal) to take an in-depth look at urban/inner-city teachers' context and the enacted curriculum.…

An evaluation of an in-service reading skills and learning to learn program, designed to enable high school and professional personnel to both teach and cope with students who need these skills revealed that there does exist an understanding of the dropout problem, there is a need for the development of fundamental reading skills, and that…

BECAUSE OF THE TEACHER'S FEAR OF DIFFICULT SCHOOLS, HER RESISTANCE TO TEACHING IN THEM, AND HER LACK OF UNDERSTANDING FOR THE LOWER CLASS CHILD, HUNTER COLLEGE'S PROJECT TRUE SET UP A PROGRAM ORIENTING EDUCATION STUDENTS TO LOWER CLASS CULTURE. THE STUDENTS' REACTIONS WERE STUDIED TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THEIR NEGATIVE ATTITUDES CHANGED. FOUR…