This book aims to unveil some of the intricacies and paradoxes in the links among education, poverty, and inequality in the Americas by offering a current account of the status of educational opportunities for low-income groups. The goal is to offer various frameworks to conceptualize the dynamics of educational inequality at the micro-level and…

"Westhills" is a multiethnic coastal community in San Diego County, California, in which Mexican Americans comprise approximately 22 percent of the population. This book reports ethnographic research on a group of working-class Chicana adolescents in one Westhills barrio and their problems, school experiences, immersion in two…

This book is about teachers, teaching, and learners in poor environments in four Latin American countries: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela. Using ethnographic research methods, the study observed rural and urban schools at different periods during the school year. What emerged from the investigation is a vivid picture of teaching styles,…

Special Programs to Enhance the Education of Disadvantaged Youth (Project SPEEDY) was in its seventh year of Title I funding, the main thrust being in the area of corrective reading and other programs designed to promote language development. Although concentrating funds on fewer students has been made increasingly difficult by busing pupils,…

This volume provides a collection of research that documents the effectiveness of 50 strategies for improving student learning and schoolwide performance. Much of the research, and resulting strategies cited here, was prompted by No Child Left Behind. The 50 strategies address the following topics: basic education; best pedagogical practices;…

In 2004-2005, North Carolina's average teacher turnover rate was nearly 13 percent, ranging from a high of 29 percent to a low of 4 percent. Turnover among teachers in low-performing schools was substantially higher, with a low of 12 percent and a high of 57 percent. North Carolina has put strategies in place to address teacher retention but how…

This book discusses primary education of the poor in the city of Mumbai, India. It focuses on the city of Mumbai itself and the poor who live in it, answering questions such as What makes the city the way it is? What does it mean to be poor in Mumbai? and How does the poverty of the poor in Mumbai affect their chances of receiving a basic…

Commissioned by the College Board's National Task Force on Minority High Achievement, this report documents recent national progress in advancing the achievements of elementary-aged minority children, the potential for replicable whole-school reform designs to contribute to this advancement, and the individual, classroom, and school…

Findings from the recent OECD PISA studies highlight the need for the Hungarian school system to improve both effectiveness and equality. Hungarian 15-year-old students scored somewhat below or around the OECD average in the areas of reading, mathematical, and scientific literacy. In addition, students differ less in academic achievement within…

New teachers are unprepared for school politics and the conflicts they experience with administrators, colleagues and policies. Research and practice on mentoring often ignore organizational contexts. This article explores these under-examined contexts, asking: (1) What do mentors need to know and be able to do in relation to school and district…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) NCLB Redux: House Committee Releases Draft Language on NCLB Reauthorization, Includes Significant New Programs for…

The "Robot Roadshow Program" is designed to increase the interest of elementary school children in technical disciplines, specifically math and science. The program focuses on children from schools categorized as rural or underserved, which often have limited access to advanced technical resources. We developed the program using robots…

THIS EXPERIMENT WAS BASED ON 2 HYPOTHESES--(1) INTERNS WHO LEARN AND APPLY FLANDERS' INTERACTION ANALYSIS WILL BECOME MORE INDIRECT IN THEIR VERBAL CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR THAN INTERNS NOT LEARNING THIS TECHNIQUE. (2) THERE IS A RELATION BETWEEN INTERNS' PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR TEACHING PROBLEMS AND THEIR CLASSROOM VERBAL BEHAVIOR. TWO EXPERIMENTAL GROUPS…

Recent policy studies by the Education Trust and Heritage Foundation have tried to identify "high-flying" schools--schools that help students reach very high levels of achievement, despite significant disadvantages. This policy brief demonstrates three major problems with the findings of these reports. (1) Due to questionable…

The history of San Felipe School District (Texas), 1894-1971, depicts a situation in which Mexican Americans had control of local schools. Established in the Mexican "barrio" of the racially divided border town of Del Rio, San Felipe resisted annexation to the Anglo school district and became an independent school district in 1929.…