There are growing numbers of low-cost private schools in urban informal settlements in developing countries. It has been argued that these institutions may constitute alternatives for government schools, as they are able to meet the educational needs of children in urban informal settlements. This study explores the question of whether low-cost…

The "Floodgate Street area" was a notorious slum district in the city of Birmingham in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This article presents a case study, drawing on the rich archival sources available for this area, to examine the language that local authority and voluntary workers used to describe the local area, and their…

A private alternative school in the slums of New Delhi (India) is committed to ending female child labor and ensuring that its students don't grow up poor. The school was able to enroll girls in its all-female afternoon classes by getting their mothers involved in income-generating cooperatives. The students often outperform their peers in state…

Discusses how two urban school principals used nontraditional administrative approaches as strategies for connecting home and school and for improving the literary achievement of their culturally diverse students. Describes how these principals made a personal and caring investment, served as strong instructional leaders, reconceptualized the real…

Recounts the author's experiences teaching writing for several years in the New York city public schools. Relates his changing thoughts, feelings and assumptions about why creative writing matters (or does not matter) to these students. Concludes that writing can help people struggle against suffering and injustice, and it can also give the…

An art teacher at an inner city elementary school has found that his young students are eager to join his after-school art club and to tackle the difficult processes of etching and printmaking. This article describes the program's printmaking procedures and facilities. (SJL)

Discusses ten principles, evolving from the authors' experiences at South Boston High School, that form the core of a new view of schooling and its relation to the society it serves. (Author/WD)

Since 1978, the Diocese of Oakland, California, has operated the Family Aid-Catholic Education (FACE) program, which raises funds from local businesses and philanthropic organizations to provide partial tuition assistance to deserving low income families and to offer supplemental funding for innovative programing to inner-city Catholic schools.…

Analyzing the serious discipline problems existing in inner-city secondary schools plus teacher and administrator perceptions of it, the author tells educators that they cannot expect to alter the home/school socioeconomic clash which generates the problem, but they can create a positive learning climate which will raise student achievement. (SJL)

Reports preliminary findings of a survey of private, especially Catholic, schools in eight urban areas. Presents a general picture of what these elementary schools are like, why parents sacrifice to pay for private education, and why teachers work there. Evidence of educational quality is noted. (SJL)

Issues pertinent to the positive and lasting reform of innercity school systems serving disadvantaged minority youth are explored in this paper. Current and past reforms to improve school effectiveness have dealt primarily with instructional deficiencies of the school. However, three clusters of problems must be addressed: institutional…

The purpose of "Teach for America," a program modeled after the Peace Corps, was to recruit a cadre of bright college graduates to become uncertified teachers for two years in some of America's toughest schools. This book tracks the successes and failures of the program in its first year and presents the stories of seven idealistic corps members…

Comments on the preceding five papers. Related documents are EA 500 266, EA 500 267, EA 500 268, EA 500 269, and EA 500 270. (DE)

Suggests some leading questions to guide much needed investigation and appraisal of the history of education in Northern black ghettos. (DE)