This is the second book in the series examining student achievement. The chapters in this book reflect the scholarly papers presented at the July 2006 Education Policy, Leadership Summer Institute (EPLSI) by K-16 educators, researchers, community advocates, and policymakers who work in urban communities. The Institute serves as a place where individuals interested in scholarly discussions and research directly related to: (1) how data can be utilized to inform policy; (2) examining the urban school context from the perspectives of the polity, school leaders; students; and other related internal and external actors; and (3) identifying strategies for improving student academic achievement can gather. During this week-long Institute, participants examined the structural problems and policy tensions affecting urban communities and student achievement. The Institute's theme, Meeting the Challenges of Urban Schools is reflected throughout this book. Specifically, this edition explores the interrelated aspects of policy, practice and research and how they affect academic achievement. The five sections in this book examine different challenges facing urban schools and their impact on student performance. Part 1, Urban Challenges: Leadership Structures and Governance, contains the following: (1) Meeting the Challenges of Urban Communities: Funding School Districts (C. Kent McGuire); (2) Taking Over: Which School Leadership Structures Generate Success in Restructured Districts? (Mark Hoff) (3) A Research-Based Profession is Needed to Meet the Challenge of Urban Schools (David M. Gates). Part 2, The Higher Education Context and Student Performance, contains the following: (4) Professional Identity Formation: Socialization and Mentoring of Pre-Service Teachers in Urban Communities (Roselynn U. Obi); (5) Caribbean Students' Adjustment to College: Implications for Higher Education Policy (D. Bruce Campbell, Jr.); and (6) Addressing the Needs of Hispanic Students in K-16 Settings (Jeannette Perez). Part 3, Special Populations and Student Achievement, contains the following: (7) Meeting the Academic Needs of Urban Populations: Homeless Families and Students (Kimberly D. Matthews); (8) Wordsworth Academy: Adapting Educational Reform to the Private Alternative School Setting (Roger Cadenhead); (9) Student Achievement and School Reform in an Urban School District (Vivian Ikpa); and (10) Education Policy and Student Achievement in Urban Schools: Assessing the P.A.T.H.S. Program (Diane Bowen-Lipscomb). Part 4, Education Policy, Reform, and Student Performance, contains the following: (11) Supplemental Educational Services in Pennsylvania: Policy Perspectives, Effects, and Challenges (Charlyene C. Pinckney); (12) Alternative Certification: Does It Lend Itself as a Form of Viable Policy to Be Included as a Factor in Teacher Preparation and Certification? (Debra Johnson); and (13) Deconstructing Special and Gifted Education Policy and Practice: A Paradigm of Ethical Leadership in Residentially Segregated Schools and Communities (York Williams). Part 5, The K-12 Urban Context: Improving Student Achievement, contains the following: (14) Reforming Urban Schools: Five Years from Despair to Hope (Donald Anticoli); (15) Building Capacity and Raising Awareness: Implementing NCLB and Its Impact on World Languages (Oscar Torres, Jr.); (16) Motivating Students through Meaningful Report Cards (Laurie Zaring); and (17) Universal Pre-Kindergarten as a Basis of Urban Educational Reform (Greg Kratzer).