Urban Education Commons^™

Gender-Separate Education: The Effects On Student Achievement & Self-Esteem On Economically Disadvantaged Public Middle School Students In Philadelphia, Heather M. O'Neill, Allison Guerin

Business and Economics Faculty Publications

In 2003, three Philadelphia middle schools with similar demographics and failing student achievement levels were taken over by an educational management organization. Two were transformed into distinct single-sex academies within the original school buildings and a third remained coeducational. Students did not have the option where to attend, eliminating selection bias. Through funding from a Spencer Foundation grant, data was collected on 1,000 students for 2002-03 through 2004-05 to examine impacts of gender-segregation. We find students in single sex schools witness greater improvements in standardized test scores, with boys gaining the most, and no differences on Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale.

Public-Private Partnerships, Civic Engagement, And School Reform, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The number of partnerships between public schools and private organizations increased dramatically after the National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) issued its report "A Nation at Risk." ... In this essay, I propose an uncommon perspective of public-private partnerships in the United States—one that calls for direct citizen involvement to ensure that collaboration is linked to and compatible with reform efforts carried out at the local (school district) level. The need for a new conceptualization is framed by three convictions: public-private partnerships have been largely ineffective in terms of improving instruction and student learning; democratic deficits in these ventures …

African-American Males’ Perception Of Factors Involved In Their Resilience And Academic Success, Johnnie Thomas

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the factors that contribute to the educational success and failure of African-American males continues to be a topic of current research. Frequently, educational performance outcome data, report African-American males as low performers. Some African-American males are able to overcome family issues, community violence and school dysfunction, and achieve academic success. They are resilient. Masten, Best, and Garmezy (1990) define resiliency as “the process of, capacity to, or outcome of successful adaptation despite challenging or threatening circumstances” (426). In this study, the internal and external factors motivating the academic success of five African-American males who grew up in Chicago, Illinois’ …

Urban Partnerships For Educational Equity And Successful Educational Transitions., Felicia Wilczenski, Amy Cook, Katie Gray, Robert Gracia, Natalie Coady, Kennan Daniel

Counseling, School Psychology & Sport Faculty Publication Series

School counseling graduate students provide assistance to inner city middle and high school students to prepare them for post-secondary educational options.

A Comparative Study Of The Impact Of Charitable Donations On The Financial Viability Of San Miguel Model Schools, Michael Quirk

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to measure and compare the advancement strategies employed by private faith-based middle schools which serve economically disadvantaged minority students in urban settings. The research compared six schools in two groups of samples chosen from a pool of Lasallian Catholic alternative middle schools. Data collected from extensive personal interviews with school administrators were divided into twelve categories to compare the school’s establishment, the school’s board makeup and advancement functions, the school’s advancement methods and programs, the school’s senior advancement administration, and the school’s relationship with religious sponsor. Additional data from the sample schools financial audits …

Urban Elementary Students' Views Of Environmental Scientists, Environmental Caretakers And Environmentally Responsible Behaviors, Patricia Lynne Horne

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the nature of the relationship between urban elementary fifth graders, environmental workers, and the environment. The study examined 320 urban fifth grade elementary students' drawings of environmental scientists (DAEST) and environmental caretakers (DAECT). Additionally, semi-structured interviews were included to elucidate student illustrations. The study's sample represented one-third of all fifth graders in the mid-Atlantic school district selected for this research. Approximately 5% of participants were chosen for follow-up semi-structured interviews based on their illustrations.

A general conclusion is some of the stereotypes, particularly related to gender, revealed in prior research (Barman, 1999, …

Catholic Schools, Urban Neighborhoods, And Education Reform, Margaret F. Brinig, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Notre Dame Law Review

This Article explores the implications of a dramatic shift in the American educational landscape—the rapid disappearance of Catholic schools from urban neighborhoods. Primarily because of their strong track record of educating disadvantaged children, these school closures are a source of significant concern in education policy circles. While we are inclined to agree that Catholic school closures contribute to a broader educational crisis, this Article does not address well-rehearsed debates about educational outcomes. Rather than focusing on the work done inside the schools, we focus on what goes on outside them. Specifically, using three decades of data from the Project on …

Understanding The Nature Of Learning Disorders In Pakistani Classooms, Kausar Waqar, Nilofar Vazir

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Urban School Reform And The Strange Attractor Of Low-Risk Relationships, Brian R. Beabout

Educational Leadership, Counseling, and Foundations

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, school leaders in a newly decentralized school system reached out to external organizations for partnerships—a job that had previously resided in the central office. The necessity of these contacts and the quantity of newly independent schools make a unique context for studying how school leaders think and act in relation to external partnerships. Iterative interviews with 10 New Orleans public school principals reveal a range of external partnerships that can be classified into a three part taxonomy consisting of charitable relationships, technical support relationships, and feedback relationships. A discussion of low-risk relationships …

Preparation For Teaching In Urban Schools: Perceptions Of The Impact Of Traditional Preparation Programs, Crystal Timmons

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During 2 decades of debate about teacher preparation education practitioners and policymakers have called for a more skilled professional teaching force (Darling- Hammond, 2010). Of particular concern has been poverty’s impact on education -- specifically in struggling urban schools -- prompting legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which shifted funding formulas in an effort to directly target poor students and struggling schools (Talbert-Johnson, 2006). The major purpose of this study was to explore novice teachers’ (teachers in their second to fourth year of teaching) perceptions of their preparedness to teach in urban schools following completion of …