Since 1980, Chicago's United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) has been a major player in school reform, organising Mexican-American communities to build a neighbourhood high school, founding a local technical institute, passing radical school governance reform, and launching a major charter network. At UNO's apex in 2013, a corruption scandal…

Teacher-student trust is associated with the social and emotional development of students, their school connectedness and engagement, and their academic achievement. However, few studies have examined how trust develops between teachers and students in ninth grade, a critical year in high school for students to start off on-track. Even less…

This "Equity by Design" research brief summarizes a study published by Waitoller and Maggin (2018) in the special education journal "Remedial and Special Education." The purpose of this research was to examine whether charter schools mitigate racial inequities evidenced in access to general education classrooms in neighborhood…

This article highlights McKinney-Vento awareness and implementation as experienced and understood by unaccompanied youth facing housing instability and the adults charged with its implementation in schools. A qualitative inquiry was used to capture the perspectives of youth experiencing housing instability as they navigated a large urban school…

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have shown considerable improvements in student achievement over the last 20 years, but concerns about unequal educational opportunities across different communities in the city continues to be a pressing issue. The North Lawndale Cluster Initiative (NLCI) sought to improve academic achievement and educational…

School engagement predicts academic achievement and attainment, yet remains under-theorized in the sociological literature. While psychologists describe three distinct yet mutually reinforcing categories of school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement), sociologists have largely neglected to analyze cognitive engagement.…

In Chicago's Altgeld-Riverdale neighborhood, the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten Transitions Project (PKTP) promotes an intentional approach to early educational transitions through the implementation of classroom and community transition practices. PKTP brings together teachers and families from across all schools and early childhood centers…

In Chicago's Altgeld-Riverdale neighborhood, the Pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten Transitions Project (PKTP) promotes an intentional approach to early educational transitions through the implementation of classroom and community transition practices. PKTP brings together teachers and families from across all schools and early childhood centers…

In this special issue exploring parents' responses to neoliberal policy changes, especially shifting notions of risk and responsibility, this article provides a historical account of local and national policy initiatives in the contemporary United States that have increased risk and placed responsibility for this risk on the shoulders of parents…

Many urban districts use a portfolio management model, hoping to promote school choice and improve school performance. This model requires school closure, which has predominantly impacted lower income families. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools relocated Granger Elementary into one of 48 schools it closed, placing its middle-class parents in the…

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) offers many options when it comes to high school enrollment. In fact, since the 2015-16 school year, about three out of every four incoming ninth-graders have chosen to attend a high school other than their assigned neighborhood school. Despite the widespread engagement in school choice, the high school application…

Research has demonstrated that families are consistently willing to pay more for homes situated in catchments with better quality schools. However, few have considered whether other school characteristics are capable of capitalizing home values in this way. Using data from the city of Chicago, we investigate whether traditional magnet schools may…

This study extends research on school choice policy, and on the geography of educational opportunity, by exploring how students understand their school choices and select from them within social-geographical space. Using a conceptual framework that draws from situated social cognition and recent research on neighborhood effects, this study…

Learning in data-rich environments has been a focus of learning sciences research since the inception of the field, with increasing interest in the ways learners "narrate data." This article examines the narration of data from the perspective of "learning on the move," identifying mobilities of data, and of the narratives in…

Policymakers have refocused attention on the school readiness of low-income, African American children. Yet, preschools, elementary schools, and families often differ in their beliefs about salient abilities. The degree of alignment among teachers and parents influences how successfully children make the transition to kindergarten. Focusing on one…