This article describes findings from a single-case qualitative study of a unique 2-year professional development academy for practicing assistant principals designed and implemented in partnership between school district personnel and university educational leadership faculty members. The study was conducted based on the theoretical framework of…

This yearlong ethnographic case study investigated higher and lower track adolescents' experiences with core content-area (social studies, science, and math) writing in one urban working-class district. Teacher, student, and administrator interviews; field notes; and students' written work comprised the data set. The findings from this…

Over the past 20 years, there have been numerous calls to reform the practices of school counselors. Some have situated these calls for school counseling reform within the context of urban schooling. This study examined the practices of school counselors in one urban school district, and how those practices aligned with the school district's…

This investigation uncovered the conditions of learning, both positive and negative, that students in an alternative school experienced both in and out of the classroom setting. Eleven students at an alternative high school in a large suburban school district in the Pacific Northwest were interviewed using methods of narrative inquiry and…

Inaction to address housing segregation in metropolitan areas has resulted in persistently high levels of residential segregation. As the Supreme Court has recently limited school districts' voluntary integration efforts, this article considers the role of residential segregation in maintaining racially isolated schools, namely what is known…

This qualitative case study examined how social capital development was facilitated in an urban after-school program. Specific attention was devoted to identifying structures and strategies that helped student participants develop social capital, the types of social networks that were developed through program participation, and the outcomes that…

Most of the low-performing schools and students are in urban districts where poverty is high, where large proportions of students have limited English proficiency, and where students perform poorly on achievement tests. Moreover, urban districts face numerous challenges, including attracting teachers to their schools and optimizing their hiring,…

In this article we examine induction policies and practices for new alternatively certified mathematics teachers in the country's largest urban school district, New York City. Our focus is on the support system for such teachers as it is legislated and as it is enacted. This includes the induction and general supports (e.g., mentoring, coaching,…

There are few instances in the literature on urban school reform that have closely studied specific school buildings to describe the grant resource appropriation process. This study attempts to fill that gap by developing case studies of two middle schools with divergent profiles in resource utilization through micro-ethnographies. One school…

In this case study, a district-wide focus on the development of civic responsibility is seen as an important component in the success of higher performing middle schools. Salient features of best practice were gathered from teacher and administrator interviews and documentary evidence in 10 higher performing, yet "beating the odds" schools, and…

Poverty in the United States is migrating far beyond the urban core and transforming the suburbs into places increasingly stratified by income, wealth, opportunity, and education. Census data from the 2005 American Community Survey reveal new patterns of income inequality, residential mobility, and spatial segregation that make the suburbs less of…

Urban life comes with diverse social, environmental, health care, and education problems. However, for many of the people seeking better economic, social, and education opportunities, the big city still holds a special allure. Jazz singer Frank Sinatra sings in "New York, New York" that he wants to "wake up in a city that never sleeps/and find I'm…

This study of the impact of the homeschool connection on achievement was part of a larger interpretive case study which examined high achieving readers in a low performing school. The primary participants in the study were 7 African American 6th graders. Caregivers' thoughts on education and their aspirations for their children were examined…

This article reports on the generational perspectives of two science teachers working in one urban school, a 38-year veteran and a second-year teacher. Despite numerous opportunities to work together, these teachers argued more than they collaborated. This research shows that at least some of the tension can be explained by the generational…

Using an organizational theory to study how people can actually change routines, this study examined alterations made to two aspects of a high school's attendance procedures over 5 years. The authors drew primarily from interviews and school documents to describe and analyze changes made by administrators, faculty, and staff. Organizing questions…