Urban environmental education helps students to recognize ecological features and practices of cities. To understand the value and practice of developing such ecological place meaning, we conducted narrative research with educators and students in urban environmental education programs in the Bronx, New York City. Narratives showed that educators…

Throughout this article, I argue that within the mainstream field of urban education, "the urban" is floating face down, lifeless, and devoid of significant meaning. "City" and "urban" function as taken-for-granted variables that stand in the rightful place of rich explanations, based in theory and evidence, of the…

The majority of teachers in the United States are of a different race, ethnicity, class, gender, and linguistic dominance from that of their students. Teachers are specifically challenged by a variety of racial and ethnic issues as they enter their classrooms. This paper discusses the importance of educator preparation programs devoting attention…

Although equity-oriented discourse is working to move the mathematics education community from achievement-gap rhetoric toward a focus on opportunity gaps, it does not currently recognize the role of space and the politics of space in creating and maintaining opportunity gaps as it relates to mathematics education in urban settings. The purpose of…

Recognizing that post-secondary student attainment and achievement is of increasing import for economic success, this study compares the post-secondary performance of students who attended public and private high schools. The results generally indicate that students who attended Catholic high schools had higher college grade-point averages (GPAs),…

This article examines eight principles that can help preservice teachers make the connection between the Introduction to Educational Psychology class and working with the special needs of urban students. Based on research in educational psychology and its importance to preservice teachers, it is essential that professors who teach this discipline…

Contextualized by efforts to support arts integration in one of the largest school districts in the United States, this qualitative study examines the experiences of educators as they participate in various arts-centred forms of professional development. Drawing on the work of, the tenets of arts-centered learning, the authors use Mediated…

The aim of this study is to identify high school teachers' commitment to school development, colleagues, the teaching profession and sense of duty. The population of this descriptive survey comprised 2,805 teachers working at 47 high schools in Elazig during the 2016-2017 school year. The study sample was selected through stratified sampling,…

In this response to "The Political Nuances of Narratives and an Urban Educator's Response," the authors applaud Pearman's critical approach to deconstructing and challenging narratives of heroic figures who single-handedly change the world and agree with him that these narratives restrict the sense of agency that may propel citizens to…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to investigate the factors that contribute to the retention of urban, Hispanic high school male graduates in East Harlem, New York. Originated through the works by W. E. B. Du Bois (1968), Gloria Ladson-Billings (1998) and Derrick Bell (1992) pioneered Critical Race Theory (CRT), which…

Using a learning design perspective on No Child Left Behind (NCLB), I examine how accountability policy shaped urban educators' instructional sensemaking. Focusing on the role of policy-rooted classifications, I examine conversations from a middle school mathematics teacher team as a "best case" because they worked diligently to comply…

This article explores activism, education, and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Using critical race theory (CRT), I analyze what this emergence of primarily youth-led activism means in the context of decades of neoliberal education reform. I raise specific questions about how youth-led activism, which has its genesis in and is largely shaped by…

The unexpected and vast Syrian refugee crisis with an ever-growing number of young Syrians appears to be one of the greatest challenges for the Turkish education system. While low enrollment rates are alarming, the dual system that emerged in the urban settings creates a main challenge to a comprehensive and supportive education system and…

Improving low-achieving schools is a critical challenge facing urban education. Recent national policy shifts have pressed states to take an expanded role in school improvement efforts. In 2009, a federal grant competition called Race to the Top (RttT) compelled states to improve their capacity to implement ambitious education reform agendas.…

In the majority of public schools across the nation, Black male youth are undergoing what can be deemed as "educational genocide"--the killing off of any chances for an equitable education. This dramatically decreases opportunities for Black male youth to develop into fully participating citizens in a democratic society. In many ways,…