Purpose: To identify the attitudes and traits of teachers with an at-risk student population in a multi-cultural urban high school. Design/methodology/approach: A research team consisting of doctoral students and their faculty advisor used an appreciative inquiry model to identify attitudes and traits of teachers who supported effective teaching…

How does one turn a class of sixth graders who are uncomfortable with writing, unfamiliar with art supplies, but good at fidgeting and bickering, into a community that achieves literary, artistic, and civic success? In the spring of 2003, Kestrel Heights teachers asked the authors to team up and help their sixth grade students create something…

This study of the school-related factors that influence the persistence or withdrawal of Hispanic American high school students did not validate Tinto's model of dropout behavior. Tinto's model (1975) is based on a sequence of the following variable clusters: (1) background characteristics; (2) external factors; (3) academic integration; (4)…

This report analyzes the performance of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students on the 1988-89 Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and compares it to performance on the Test of Standard Written English (TSWE), and to state and national samples. The following findings are presented: (1) 10,775 LAUSD students took the SAT; (2) the mean total…

Project Dropout Reduction through Employment, Achievement, and Motivation (DREAM) provided 445 Spanish-speaking limited-English-proficient students with English-as-a-second-language (ESL), Native Language Arts (NLA), and bilingual content area courses at South Bronx High School (New York) during the 1989-90 school year. Project DREAM met its…

Despite the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Keyes v. Denver School District, Hispanic students are more segregated today than they were 20 years ago, and gaps between the educational attainment and earnings of Hispanics and non-Hispanics continue to widen. The nation's Hispanic population has grown almost five times faster than the non-Hispanic…

Reviews dropout research and reanalyzes data from the High School and Beyond study of Hispanic students. Concludes that current dropout prevention programs are not effective with Hispanic students because many Hispanic dropouts do not fit the accepted stereotypes of at-risk students. (FMW)

This report describes patterns of racial enrollment and segregation in U.S. public schools at the national, regional, state, and district levels using the 2000-01 NCES Common Core of Data. Trends in desegregation and resegregation over the last one-third century are also examined. Whites are the most segregated group, attending schools that are,…

This report examines data from the National Center for Education Statistics' Common Core of Data (CCD) on public high school dropout and four-year completion rates. The four-year completion rate is the proportion of students who leave school from grades 9-12 as completers. The CCD four-year completion rate is limited to public school data from…

Examines business/education partnerships formed to bring about science and mathematics education improvements for Black students, focusing on needs such partnerships meet for both business and schools, and on factors affecting their potential for success. The Urban Schools Science and Math Program is studied as an example of such partnerships. (AF)

Concern about potential disruption by Latino gang members in East Los Angeles (California) high schools results in over-emphasis on classroom control and neglect of these students' academic and social development. This study recommends steps to encourage the integration and participation in schooling of gang members through individualized…

The author of this article contends that the U.S. government, in conjunction with public and private sectors, are failing American society by failing the vast majority of America's urban youth. This failure is seen in America's public inner city schools where the numbers of students graduating from high school vs. the number of students…

This paper describes the identification process of a Priority One Jacob K. Javits grant, Clustering Learners Unlocks Equity (Project CLUE), a university-school partnership. Project CLUE uses a "sift-down model" to cast the net widely as the talent pool of gifted second-grade students is formed. The model is based on standardized test scores, a…

This study examines Chicano students' perceptions of disciplinary actions experienced or witnessed. A qualitative methodology, including focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and field work (classroom observations, student school records, and teacher interviews) examines operative factors during student-teacher confrontations. Students (N=4)…

The San Diego City Schools system has set as one of its highest priorities the improvement of reading achievement throughout the district. This report was produced to profile, using a variety of indicators, the schools with the highest reading achievement. The study of reading achievement included two components, a teacher survey and reading…