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.…

Educators have continually sought to achieve a balance between a phonics-based, code-emphasis program and a more holistic, meaning-based approach to emergent literacy instruction. This article describes an integrated phonics and literature-based approach to developing children's emergent literacy skills. These skills included alphabet knowledge,…

In response to the challenges of new state-mandated requirements for teacher credentialing, a team of university faculty and school district representatives worked in a collaborative project to support beginning teachers. The outcome of the collaborative is an innovative program that provides support and formative assessment of teachers during…

Broad (1999) observed that "troubled borders crisscross the geography of teacher preparation in English" (p. 373), calling for collaboration where preparation is a university responsibility (Gregorian, 2001). This research documents a three-year complex case study that addressed the question: What happens when English, education, and high school…

The increasing racial, cultural, and ethnic diversity among the populations attending urban schools poses a significant challenge to providing quality public education. Similarly, few would dispute that, in order to meet this challenge effectively, teachers must acquire the cultural competency for creating productive and inclusive learning…

This document, comprised of five issues of a newsletter published by the National Middle School Association, focuses on teaching concerns and practice in urban middle grades. Regular features of issues include an editorial section, a resources column, a "News to Use" section, and feature articles. The following are some articles…

Because a cumulative score is not computed for the Urban Teacher Selection Interview, item rankings do not appear to be operationally related to the overall ranking and final categorization of teacher education candidates. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which, during the final selection process, the interviewers ranked…

A study of successful urban schools was conducted using two research strategies. Part One of this report consists of eight case studies of elementary schools in midwestern cities. The case reports were based on self-studies, in many instances by school staff members. The studies were constructed to focus on the human factors that make the…

In an attempt to give college seniors sufficient experience to prepare them for the difficulties of their initial teaching assignments in disadvantaged neighborhoods, the Triplet Project was created by Hunter College of the City University of N.Y. A college supervisor and 12 student teachers are assigned to each of two "triplets" (groups…

A program is proposed which would recruit Negro inner-city high school students, primarily Negro young men who would ordinarily not go to college for financial or academic reasons (25 in each of three cycles), for teaching careers in elementary and junior high schools. A major emphasis is placed on providing a successful transition from high…

To help teachers develop effective procedures for dealing with disadvantaged vocational students, the Baltimore City Public Schools sponsored a summer workshop in cooperation with the College of Education at the University of Maryland. As a result of this workshop, teachers were to a) become sensitive to the problems of disadvantaged students, b)…

Explains a project where urban gifted students designed and wrote a 62-page activity resource book for children. Participants (aged K-junior high) visited the marsh, researched topics, and created activities for inclusion in the book. Teachers believe that the writers used creative abilities, problem-solving, and higher levels of thinking in this…

The Urban Teacher Preparation Program, a Masters Degree program which represents a unique cooperative relationship between Syracuse Public Schools and Syracuse University began in 1964 and still continues to meet the need to provide the specialized kind of training which prepares teachers to have a positive impact on the lives of minority youth.…

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics are used to look at Michigan's progress in meeting the challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) that teachers be "highly qualified." The data also allow the study of whether all students in Michigan have access to the highly qualified teachers required by the NCLB.…

Discusses the reading problems that are concerns in a Science-Technology-Society program of science teaching. Describes possible origins of the lack of comprehensible reading abilities and the teacher's role in facilitating the process. (RT)