Families, whether guided or instructed to, often become involved in their children's homework. This study examined the effects of a weekly interactive mathematics program (Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork-TIPS) on family involvement, emotions and attitudes, and student achievement. Students and families (N=153) from four urban elementary…

The focus on school-level performance brought about by the No Child Left Behind Act--as well as recent court cases challenging the use of race in student assignment policies--has brought greater attention to the need to for careful study of the allocation of resources within school districts. This paper describes the policy context, reviews key…

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,…

A notable increase in the number of U.S. families choosing to homeschool their children in recent years has underscored the need to develop more systematic knowledge about this approach to education. Drawing on a theoretical model of parental involvement as well as research on families' social networks, this study longitudinally examines home- and…

In 1965, appalled by the racial disparity with respect to access to higher education, the federal government implemented the Higher Education Act. After more than 40 years of programmatic intervention, gaps persist. As such, this study analyzes two of the three original HEA programs--Upward Bound and Talent Search--focusing on race/ethnicity and…

This article examines the quality of primary school inputs in urban settlements with a view to understand how it sheds light on benchmarks of education quality indicators in Kenya. Data from a school survey that involved 83 primary schools collected in 2005 were used. The data set contains information on school quality characteristics of various…

Research has identified successful transitions from middle to high school as critical for students' academic success. Identifying risks and protective factors associated with challenge or success in the early years of high school is crucial, especially for African American students who are disproportionately represented in the ranks of adolescents…

Having a positive attitude about school, valuing school, and being intrinsically motivated is associated with higher grades, graduation, and college attendance. However, the literature reveals that these characteristics and attitudes are not uniform across race, class, and gender. The purpose of the current study was to examine racial differences…

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…

This study examines educators' perspectives of the American Excellence Association (AEA). Using interviews with 16 educators (teachers, counselors, and principals) from 10 high schools, we explored their perceptions regarding AEA's impact on student participants as well as the potential for this type of culturally relevant programming for closing…

This article examines the experiences of 20 students of color who voluntarily attend a racially integrated school. The study draws from the Socio-Cultural dimension of schooling as a framework to understand how the students of color fared on a social, cultural, and environmental level within a predominantly White school. Through a questionnaire,…

This article proposes a new method for measuring school desegregation in multiracial districts, and uses the new method to measure the desegregation effects of magnet schools in Los Angeles. Rather than measuring desegregation between only two groups at a time, I compute the index of interracial exposure for Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Asians.…

Four years following the decimation of the New Orleans Public Schools by Hurricane Katrina the city has been described as the center of a unique urban public school reform effort. This effort is a combination of events that transpired just before the storm and those that have occurred as a result of it. In particular some claim that the emerging…

The transition from elementary to middle school is difficult for many students. However, the association between such transitions and changes in the types and frequencies of student discipline problems has not been adequately investigated. Using data from two school years, infractions and dispositions for all 5th-grade students (N = 4,196) from…