When Benjamin Banneker Charter Public School in Boston realized that their students' 2002-2003 math scores on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System fell below the target set by Massachusetts for adequate yearly progress, they saw not one problem (poor math achievement), but two. Because it was the fifth year the school had not hit AYP…

This paper reports on a short-term ethnographic participatory action research project that engaged urban Canadian, street-involved "queer and questioning" youth in a multi-media enabled inquiry into peer housing and support needs. The "Pridehouse Project" (http://www.sfu.ca/pridehouse) was initiated by, and accountable to, a…

This article has two inseparable aims: (a) to analyse the relative merits of single-sex and co-educational constructs on self-concept, academic performance and academic engagement; (b) to investigate the manner in which each type of schooling interacts with the individual student; student "peers," close family, and teachers.

Stanford's preservice Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP) undertook a self-study to investigate how its credential candidates who had previous teaching experience perceived the value of returning for formal preparation. Using a semi-structured protocol, 23 STEP graduates were interviewed from 1999 and 2000, asking them about their teaching…

This article reports the findings of a collective case study of 2 low-performing, predominantly minority urban schools. The research shows that principals were able to improve the quality of parent-teacher relationships using multidimensional strategies that addressed the needs of teachers and parents. The findings suggest that strategies to…

A teacher education program designed to adequately prepare preservice teachers to instruct culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms is described. Under the supervision of a professor and a graduate assistant in a required methods course at a private midwestern Christian university, 24 preservice teachers, who use a…

This Opportunity 08 position paper advises that the next President of the United States should focus on lifting the achievement levels of our nation's schoolchildren. It recommends that the new President should mount a determined effort, together with states and local school districts, to boost the academic performance of low achievers by: (1)…

The 15th Anniversary of the Los Angeles riots serves as an impetus to continue efforts in addressing how institutionalized theories, norms, and practices in schools and society lead to social, political, economic, and educational inequalities. The challenges of school inequalities continue to be chronic and remain unresolved through traditional…

This historical study examines some of the possible reasons that a large portion of Mexican American children do not succeed in the public school system in California, exploring the background of the language issue. Parental factors, socioeconomic status, and self-perceptions are three factors related to failure among Mexican American children in…

Although the special education system has become a central institutional mechanism for addressing school failure and low achievement, it is a system unresponsive to the needs of Chicano students. Despite the severity of problems of school failure for Chicano students, interactions with the special education system have largely been characterized…

This report examines the Chapter 1 program's impact at school and classroom levels, strategic directions for Chapter 1 reauthorization, the larger context of school poverty as it influences Chapter 1 delivery, the operation and effectiveness of Chapter 1, and new directions for improving Chapter 1 in line with national reforms. How well Chapter 1…

Although analogous and vague definitions of school climate may help in determining whether low-achieving students are experiencing a more positive or negative school climate, more clarity is needed to render the climate construct more observable, measurable, and malleable. Tagiuri conceptualizes climate as the total environmental quality within an…

Results are now available from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with its 5 main components, 41 cooperating countries, over 500,000 participants, and coverage of the full spectrum of mathematics and science from grades 4 through 12. American educators, parents, and policy makers have found the results to be both…

This monograph documents major events in the Cincinnati (Ohio) School District (CSD) in 1990-91 concerning the Bronson Settlement, which was the result of a racial segregation suit against the CSD (Mona Bronson, et al. v. Board of Education of the City of Cincinnati). The Bronson Settlement ordered changes in nine areas of the CSD. This report…

This paper evaluates STRIVE, an alternative program designed to provide a nurturing, caring, and intensive academic environment for over-age, low-performing ninth grade students attending the Barbara Jordan High School for Careers in Houston (Texas). STRIVE operates in isolation from the regular student population and has a counselor and four…