Addressing the seemingly perpetual turbulent landscape of urban schools, the role that elementary educators and teacher educators can play in reversing negative trends and trajectories is considered. Three urban education journals were examined over a 5-year period (2005-2010) to determine the emphasis on elementary students or schools. Of the 429…

The purpose of this article is to describe several conceptual areas that warrant attention by scholars and practitioners interested in improving access and opportunity to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in urban cities. Thinking conceptually about the urban context has been a part of intellectual traditions in the…

This instrumental case study reviews the 1994-2004 period of state financial oversight in East St. Louis, Illinois School District 189, with a secondary review of the initial years of NCLB implementation. Although the oversight panel's fiscal management did generate financial stability, case findings indicate that its accountability processes did…

Although research has been conducted on state and city interventions of educational systems in urban districts in the United States, very little has been written from the perspective of an elected school board, the governing bodies being replaced during this era of reform. This case study illustrates how an elected school board in St. Louis,…

Although the value of school-community partnerships is unquestioned, the reasons for success and failure are not sufficiently understood. This mixed-methods case study examines 60 years of partnering at one urban high school, using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory to better understand the effect on student development as measured by…

This article presents findings of 6 years of implementing a Problem Solution Project, an assignment influenced by service learning, problem-based learning, critical theory, and critical pedagogy whereby teachers help children tackle real problems. Projects of 135 teachers in an urban certification/master's program were summarized by cohort year…

This article reports findings from a 3-year longitudinal qualitative case study conducted in three urban elementary schools that examined the ways in which local leadership supported the initiation and early development of evidence-based grade-level collaboration as a mechanism for improving student literacy learning. Findings suggest eight key…

This article investigates the lasting legacy of the National Teacher Corps (NTC), which was created in 1965 by the U.S. federal government with two crucial assumptions: that teaching poor urban children required a very specific skill set and that teacher preparation programs were not providing adequate training in these skills. Analysis reveals…

In this article, the author argues that urban school reform falters, in part, because of the lack of an organized political constituency among the stakeholders with the most direct interest in school improvement, that is, parents whose children attend urban schools. The author examines community organizing as a potential strategy to build such a…

For over a century after the 1896 "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision, researchers have been grappling with how to effectively implement educational reform policies to provide students with an equal education in American schools. This literature review examines previous school desegregation cases and school desegregation plans to investigate…

This research documents and analyzes the nature and content of the knowledge that enables professors to foster learning for Black students. Specifically, it suggests that knowledge of the discourses of a students' community of origin, discourses often based on collective experience, are a valuable resource to professors in their efforts to promote…

The present article draws from the biographical narratives of three South African high school female principals which are part of a larger research study in which 26 aspiring and practicing women school leaders were interviewed. Narratives were constructed from in-depth interviews with each participant and analyzed for themes that provided…

The last two decades have seen dramatic change in U.S. schooling as a response to high-stakes accountability and market-based reform movements. Critics cite a number of unfortunate consequences of these movements, especially for students in urban schools. This article explores the troubling ironies related to one strategy for survival in this…

State takeovers of local school districts represent one of the most recent kinds of education reform. Americans favor both local control over education and state takeovers of failing schools. African American leaders tend to oppose takeovers, but survey data suggest that African American citizens support greater state influence over local…

This longitudinal study of middle school science teachers explored if a teacher participation in the TPD program resulted in change in instructional practice as well as a significant increase in student learning. Four participating schools were matched and randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Teacher and student outcomes were…