Excess lead concentration (resulting primarily from vehicular emissions) in Baltimore's inner city soils probably has a bearing on that city's child lead poisoning problem. Soil lead concentrations were lower outside the inner city. (GC)

For some time the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has been studying the attributes that characterize effective nonprofit organizations. These attributes were identified after a review of the literature, discussions with national leaders, meetings with administrators and funders of nonprofit organizations, and the information from case studies by…

An Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a tax reduction and a wage supplement for low- and moderate-income working families. The federal government, and some states, administer an EITC through the income tax. States that enact EITCs can reduce child poverty, support welfare-to-work efforts, and cut taxes for families struggling to make ends meet.…

A unique program to provide urban teachers with the necessary training to meet the needs of their students is discussed. (CK)

Reviews three major approaches (psychological, ecological, and social action models) to community-based prevention programming with urban youth. The psychological model addresses change at the individual level; the ecological model emphasizes simultaneous interventions at multiple levels; and the social action model targets structural changes in…

The present study tested for gender differences in depressive symptoms in a sample of 622 low-income, urban, African American adolescents. Results indicate that adolescent girls in this sample were significantly more likely to endorse depressive symptoms than were boys. To examine possible explanations for this gender difference, 2 variables were…

In the social sciences, not many theses have been as contentious as the underclass thesis. Nevertheless, whether as a heuristic device to study society or as a target of ideological or academic attack, the underclass thesis has been used a focus of attention by a wide spectrum of researchers, politicians and journalists. In post-industrial…

This study explored the role of critical consciousness as a key factor in predicting progress in career development among urban high school students. Critical consciousness, or the capacity to recognize and overcome sociopolitical barriers, was operationalized through sociopolitical analysis and sociopolitical control. Canonical correlation…

This article examines three conceptual reforms in US teacher education (competency-based teacher education (CBTE), reflective teacher education (RTE) and constructivist teacher education (CTE)) for their effects on the education of multicultural, multilingual youth, as well as considering alternative certification (AC), known here as an…

The second edition of "19 Urban Questions: Teaching in the City" adds new questions to those in the original volume. Continuing the developing conversation in urban education, the book is provocative in style and rich in detail. Emphasizing the complexity of urban education, Shirley R. Steinberg and the authors ask direct questions about what…

This paper examines the evolving participation of instructors and learners in an after-school web page-design course intended to improve technology practices. Defined here as technology fluency, these practices emerge through a highly fluctuating dance among social interactions with others and with the technology. In this digital divide…

African American adolescents (132 males and 128 females; age M=14.8 years, SD=0.92) enrolled in an urban community social skills development program participated in a study assessing the relationship among perceptions of family and community social support, fear of calamitous events, depression, and anger expression. Expressing fear of calamitous…

Using a multi-theory approach, the current study was designed to identify gender differences in the psychological mechanisms by which urban adolescents' motivation in physical education transfers into their leisure-time activities. The theoretical frameworks of Self-Determination Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior were integrated to…

Social support provisions were examined in relation to negative life events, adaptive skills, hope, and grade point average in a sample of 103 inner-city youth (ages 11-14). Analyses focused on seven support provisions: social integration, attachment, guidance and information, reliable alliance, reassurance of worth, nurturance, and instrumental…

This article reports findings from a qualitative study of preservice teachers' beliefs about the contexts of urban teaching. Participants were in their first semester of a K-6 licensure program designed to prepare them for urban teaching. Interviews and email reflective journal exchanges with the researcher were the data of the study, and…