This study examined the effectiveness of an intentional versus an implicit approach to English oral language development in young children. A vocabulary intervention in science was developed using previous research on effective vocabulary and science instruction. Participants were 39 English-learning, bilingual, and monolingual English-speaking…

This article examines the lives of three transnational second-generation immigrant Latinas who reside in urban centers in California and maintain close ties to Mexico. Drawing from a participatory research and ethnographic study, I provide evidence of the out-of-school learning that they experience and how this shapes their notions of global…

In 2000, Cook, Murphy, and Hunt published a multilevel study of Chicago inner-city schools in order to evaluate James Comer's School Development Program (SDP). One main finding was that SDP reduced the rate of change and final posttest mean when delinquency was assessed annually between Grades 5 and 8 using a self-report measure of acting out. The…

Urban high school reform is one of the most significant challenges facing education today. In response to this challenge, reformers have put significant energy toward restructuring the large high school primarily through creating smaller school settings. Although the research literature often draws connections between school size and student…

Since the introduction of the Coleman Report (1966), the focus on closing the achievement gap has been a critical component of educational policy for political leaders and field research by educators. The economic crisis which California and the nation at large currently face creates a challenging situation in attempting to narrow the gap.…

The focus of this study was the problem of the high dropout rate among African American and Hispanic students enrolled in Westchester, New York, high schools during the 2003-2004 school year. A mixed method was used to collect data in this study. The 90 participants consisted of minority and non minority high school students who had dropped out of…

Thousands of students in California learn English as a second language in schools that utilize exclusively monolingual--English Only--literacy programs. With such programs students do not have the opportunity to use the knowledge of their first language in order to acquire and master their second language. The project of cooperative bi-literacy…

From 1996-2000, thirty minority teenagers (African American, Chinese American, Puerto Rican American, and Dominican American) were interviewed every year for four years to investigate how their experiences in high school shaped their social relationships. Contents of this book include: (1) Rethinking High School as a Relational Journey; (2)…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002 calls for several changes in the K-12 education system in the United States. It focuses on evidence-based educational practices for schools in the United States. This study was part of a large-scale, 8-year research project that examined the quality of classroom instruction from three elementary schools…

This article recounts a community's struggle for access to biliteracy in one of the largest urban school districts in the country. The authors examine the roles school personnel assume, the symbols they employ, and the scripts they follow in their efforts to deny English Learners (ELs) access to quality programs and due process of rights. At a…

Demographic trends suggest that most Latino and Black schoolchildren attending city schools will have White classroom teachers. Consequently, the potential for cultural mismatches may impede meaningful teaching. In response, many teacher educators mull over approaches to prepare student teachers to effectively instruct all schoolchildren,…

The continued discrepancies in educational outcomes and learning conditions found among our nation's schools serving low-income students and students of color call for teacher educators to seriously consider what factors lead to culturally responsive policies and practices. This article summarizes a comparative study of 96 middle school and high…

Using an Opportunity to Learn (OTL) framework, this study examines the college preparatory experiences of Latina high and non-high achievers at an urban Latina/o majority high school. Findings indicate that students relied almost exclusively on school resources to navigate their college preparation process. However, the school provided…

This is an abridged, summary report of selected findings from "Pieces of the Puzzle: Factors in the Improvement of Urban School Districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress"--a comprehensive study prepared by the Council of the Great City Schools in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and with…

Scholarly analysis in the sociology of education has burgeoned in recent decades. "Frontiers in Sociology of Education" aims to provide a roadmap for sociologists and other social scientists as they set bold new directions for future research on schools. In Part 1 of this forward-looking volume, the authors present cutting-edge research…