Articles in this theme issue explore pathways into teaching, focusing on programs that recruit future teachers, and specifically on programs that target minority future teachers. "Pathways to Teaching: Building Quality and Diversity in America's Schools" by Segun Eubanks introduces a number of programs that are drawing from populations…

Employment interviews are widely used in the selection of quality teachers, and indeed research confirms administrators' belief in the validity of the procedure. However, many key recommendations for improving the general reliability of interviews including selecting questions that are job-related and research grounded, including well designed…

The difficulties facing teachers in the largest urban school districts in the United States are different from those in smaller districts. It is especially important to identify the success stories of teachers and students in demanding urban classrooms. Star teachers are those who are outstandingly successful in terms of student achievement and…

A major crisis facing urban education is the inability of predominantly white, middle-class college students to deal with the realities of the urban primary school. A program that brings education majors into the urban school is described. The idea of partnership is the guiding principle of this program, in which college students, local teachers…

This book reports on conversations in which elementary schoolteachers--who have taught in urban settings for an average of 20 years each--reflect on their professional work. The conversations in the book testify to the teachers' ability to engage young people in active learning--and their stories of teaching and learning verify that difference…

This collection of 29 unusual and interesting articles in 19 chapters addresses the issues of urban education from several provocative angles. The book outlines how cultural traditions of minority groups can be the fulcrum for positive educational change, and the special challenges of growing up as a male from a minority background. Some articles…

This study assessed the influence of reflective thinking on the early field experiences of preservice teachers who later taught in urban settings that were radically different from those they experienced as students. Reflective thinking refers to consciously identifying and defining schooling and classroom problems, generating reasonable…

This report describes the ways in which the Center for Minority Achievement works to reform public education for early adolescents in six New York City schools. It consists of edited conversations among the three central staff members of the program and vignettes and quotes from a school student and from staff affected by the program. These…

THIS DISCUSSION OF URBAN EDUCATION BRIEFLY ANALYZES THE OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF LARGE CITIES AND SCHOOLS. IT IS FELT THAT THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, WHICH PROVIDES ONLY ONE FORM OF EDUCATION FOR ALL PUPILS, INCONGRUOUSLY REFLECTS THE ADHERENCE TO ESTABLISHED VALUES, LIMITED OPPORTUNITY FOR CHOICE, AND GENERAL ROUTINIZATION WHICH ARE…

In response to a challenge by the Kansas City Public Schools superintendent, Central Missouri State College (CMSC) instituted the Inner City Teacher Education Project (ICTEP) to prepare teachers in teaching and understanding disadvantaged children. Originally a spare-time program of field trips and seminars, it was developed in 1965 into a…

This is a summative report on a four-year, field-based teacher education course. The goal of this program was to bring into the schools persons from low-income areas who normally would not consider teaching as a career and, through them, to better the education of children from economically disadvantaged families. The trainees first received…

This dissertation examines three reform movements: the curriculum reform movement, the Great Society Programs of the Kennedy and Johnson Administration, and the current competency-based teacher education (CBTE) movement. Using the CBTE approach, this dissertation focuses on dimensions with which CBTE did not deal-specifically, low income…

Funded in part by Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III funds and in part by the Atlanta, Georgia School System, Project Success Environment is now in Year Two of a three year program. A teaching technique of three components--a reinforcement system, a special classroom arrangement, and a success curriculum--the project premised that if…

This booklet addresses the beginning teacher whose assignment is an inner-city school. It advocates that each new teacher in the inner city should have what amounts of a self-administered interview schedule, focusing on points one needs to keep uppermost in one's mind if one wishes to be effective in working with low-income youth. This protocol…

The broad outlines of the recommendations for dealing with the urban school crisis presented by the National Educational Association (NEA) Task Force Project are: (1) decentralization and reorganization involving both parents and educators in decision making processes; (2) availability of medical and dental care; (3) individualized instruction;…