This study determined what principals need to successfully lead community schools and the extent principals are prepared to lead them. The authors of this qualitative study collected data from a broad sample of community school experts, principals, and directors to develop a list of necessary qualities for community school principals. Although the…

Schools in urban neighborhoods receive less funding, have less programming, and have poorer infrastructure. Such disparities may impede academic outcomes among youth. This study used publicly available data to examine the association between school characteristics and surrounding neighborhood environment on educational outcomes across three…

This article analyzes how schools in the U.S respond to trauma in children and teens after the homicide of a peer and provides suggestions for best practices. The focus is not on in-school mass shootings but on homicide of young people outside of schools, in neighborhoods, which is the leading cause of death for African Americans between ages 15…

Leveraging publicly available data about schools" absenteeism from the New Jersey Department of Education, the present study examined how neighborhood-level resource deprivation and violent crime related to chronic absenteeism in Passaic County's elementary, middle, and high schools. Results highlighted geographic disparities in Passaic…

Geographically based racial and economic segregation in the United States has resulted in unequal funding for schools and therefore unequal educational opportunities for students. In this report, we discuss the 50-year history of magnet schools as a voluntary desegregation mechanism. During these years, the funding policies and legal landscapes…

Pizza serves as a powerful example of historical themes such as immigration, cultural exchange and urbanization. In the post-WWII United States, Trenton, NJ, and other cities were gradually being transformed by suburbanization, the rise of fast food, and changes in family living related to women's entry in large numbers into the paid workforce.…

The recent awarding of a Promise Neighborhood Planning Grant to Rutgers University-Newark demonstrates how the institution's leadership has promoted a vision and mission that fosters an institutional climate supportive of community engagement. This paper discusses how Gray's (1989) partnership development framework and Kania and Kramer's (2011)…

Utilizing surveillance data from five sites participating in the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, we investigated contributions of surveillance subject and census tract population sociodemographic characteristics on variation in autism spectrum disorder ascertainment and prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2008 using ordinal…

Housing choice vouchers provide low-income households with additional income to spend on rental housing in the private market. The assistance vouchers provide is substantial, offering the potential to dramatically expand the neighborhood--and associated public schools--that low-income households can reach. However, existing research on the program…

School districts close schools for many appropriate reasons. School closure has now evolved into a school improvement strategy. Sometimes the strategy is to close the lowest-performing schools rather than low-enrollment schools and move the students into higher-achieving neighborhood schools. School closure also has become a common strategy to…

As school closures are increasingly used as a remedy to budget woes and a solution to failing schools in many cities, debates are intensifying about their effect on student performance and well-being, on district finances, and on communities and the processes districts use to choose which schools will be shuttered. Student and parent groups in…

Objective: To examine relations between neighborhood characteristics and psychological health, specifically whether neighborhood trust and cooperation buffers the effects of neighborhood disorder on depression and aggressive behavior. Methods: The sample was composed of 127 urban, African American young adults from Trenton, NJ. Results: The…

"Free To Grow"--a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)--supported efforts by Head Start agencies and their community partners to strengthen the families and neighborhood environments of high-risk preschool children living in low-income communities. The goal was to reduce the children's vulnerability to substance…

This study examines the density of lottery outlets within ethnically concentrated neighborhoods in Middlesex County, New Jersey, using geospatial statistical analyses. No prior studies have empirically examined the relationship between lottery outlet density and population demographics. Results indicate that lottery outlets were not randomly…

This paper uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and dynamic mapping to examine student enrollments in New Jersey charter schools. Consistent with previous research, we find evidence of increased racial segregation. Greater percentages of African-Americans attend charter schools than reside in surrounding areas. We add to the existing charter…