Urban institutions are typically located in diverse and vibrant cities. This diversity has changed over the decades, thus requiring campuses to address the complexity that is seen as these new American cities evolve. In this article the city of Buffalo is discussed as a city that manifests a continuous change in population diversity with a…

Colleges and Schools of Fine Arts at urban universities must be responsible for preparing teachers for K-12 education, altering models of preservice programs, supporting inservice programs, and supplementing diminishing art education in schools. Programs at Wayne State University (Michigan), University of Montana, and University of Illinois at…

University collaboration with local public school systems in Birmingham (Alabama), El Paso (Texas), Hartford (Connecticut), Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Providence (Rhode Island), and Pueblo (Colorado) have brought together a broad spectrum of stakeholders to work on systemic K-16 education reform with a focus on poor and minority children. (JB)

Weber State University (WSU) in Utah adopted, as part of its mission, increased collaboration with schools to influence the quality of precollege education. Sixteen formal partnerships with local teachers and school districts have affected interactions among faculty, sense of institutional mission, public perceptions of WSU and the professional…

Local educational reform efforts involving school systems, higher education, and the community must address educational pipelines through college and systemic deterrents like health, stress, and violence. A sense of moral imperative will bind collaborators in a new spirit of cohesiveness and community. Educational reform efforts in Birmingham…

This paper reviews the literature on student retention at urban colleges and explores notions of student involvement and academic and social integration especially in relation to nontraditional students. It describes some programmatic interventions designed to improve retention. The paper concludes that partnerships with public schools may have a…

Interviews with teachers at designated Professional Development Schools (PDSs) showed significant differences between their views of the PDS role to socialize and develop student teachers and the literature-based vision of PDSs which also includes exposing students to exemplary teaching conditions and an inquiry-based view of teaching. (JB)

The University of Illinois at Chicago is using the Great Cities concept to address critical urban issues through new ways of combining teaching, research, and service and by working in partnership with others. Key factors in establishing this institutional mission nd partnership process are leadership, broad-based participation, and realism. (JB)