Self-interested political, corporate, and education leaders have undermined recent West Virginia court decisions mandating educational reform. Three implications are: (1) principals, teachers, parents, and students must be equal partners in the educaiton reform process; (2) a constituency for rural children is needed; and (3) rural educators must…

Examines the effectiveness of paying teachers in large urban areas a salary differential, also known as "combat pay," for teaching at racially isolated or all-minority schools. In a sample of seven schools, "combat pay" is found to be ineffective in attracting or retaining high quality teachers. (CMG)

This resource guide on self-assessment of programs and services for students with disabilities is directed to chief state school officers and their agency staff as well as school district and school level staff. The first three parts are organized as individual self-assessments for state education agencies, local education agencies, and schools.…

With the growing federal, state, and local policy emphasis on teacher quality and student achievement, the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) investigated teacher resources and their relationship to student achievement in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. The purpose of this study was to provide policymakers with information about…

With the lowest per capita income in the nation and a higher dropout rate than any other state, Mississippi is struggling to remediate deeply entrenched educational problems. Despite a statewide education reform effort that predated the national movement, educators are finding a century of poverty and illiteracy difficult to reverse. (AF)

Data for third, sixth, eighth, and twelfth graders from the 1983-84 California Assessment Program are presented to support a new theory on the relationship between the size and performance of school systems. Size appears to be related to the socioeconomic status and performance of schools and school districts. (TJH)

Conveys that the reliance on information technologies may disenfranchise those students unable to secure access to computers and the knowledge needed to use them. Addresses the issues behind technological segregation and asserts the need to replace the personal computer (PC) with a network computer (NC). Technological segregation affects all…

This review of literature examines the status of education in high-need, urban schools. The article begins with a discussion of the issues and challenges experienced in these settings including the resources available, community context, quality of teachers, preparation of future teachers, and the characteristics of students. Following this…

Little is known about the feasibility and rapidity with which the academic learning of students who enter high school multiple years behind grade level can be accelerated. This study uses multiple regression analyses of standardized test and survey data from high-poverty high schools in two large urban districts to evaluate initial effects of the…

In 2007, the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) completed an 18-month study of the costs of teacher turnover in five school districts. The selected districts varied in size, location, and demographics enabling exploration of how these variations affected costs. Costs of recruiting, hiring, processing, and training…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), all schools are required to demonstrate that all students make annual yearly progress (AYP). This can be difficult, particularly for students in urban schools and even more so for students with disabilities. The authors report on one large urban school district's attempts to provide support to 140 schools…

The links between sixth-grade reading achievement, race, and the socioeconomic status of schools and neighborhoods in the Kansas City School District (KCSD) from the 1950s to the present were examined. The data show that black students tended, as early as 1956, to be in poverty schools with low achievement and that this pattern has persisted. In…

TO DECREASE CULTURE SHOCK TO THE TEACHER IN A DISADVANTAGED CLASSROOM, A PROGRAM OF ON-SITE TRAINING CONDUCTED UNDER PROJECT "TEACH" WAS ADMINISTERED TO 30 SELECTED ELEMENTARY-EDUCATION MAJORS. THE AIM OF PHASE I WAS TO CREATE AND IMPLEMENT CURRICULA INCORPORATING MEANINGFUL COURSES DESIGNED FOR TEACHERS OF THE CULTURALLY DEPRIVED. STUDENTS WERE…

Literature dealing with the disadvantaged is cursorily reviewed and questions raised by the literature are considered. Specifically, this study concerns the relationship between social class and the rate of processing of visual information in young children. Although various sources of slowness in learning are mentioned, this study focused only on…

This proposal outlines goals for improvement in public schools in disadvantaged areas in New York City in the following five fields: academic achievement, teacher training, accountability, decentralization and community involvement. A description of skills to be attained in the kindergarten and grades 1-8 is given along with recommendations for…