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September 6, 2007Busting the Myth that Poor, Urban Schools Can't Succeed |
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From Urban Institute: With the first bell of the new school year about to ring, a new book from the Urban Institute Press spotlights how urban schools serving low-income minority students can shine. In each area, the grade schools studied have the same demographic profile and the same union contracts and other district constraints, so the researchers could uncover the characteristics, policies, practices, and activities that make a real difference in early educational performance. Poor, urban schools can make a difference -- and some of them do," state Clewell, Campbell, and Perlman. Highly effective school principals are instructional leaders, encouraging innovation and other improvements. Highly effective schools have a higher-quality teaching force that appears more committed to its schools and more willing to "go the extra mile." Rios Calientes parents are much more likely to volunteer and to participate in activities in highly effective schools than in typical schools. Teachers in highly effective schools apply discipline more consistently and are more likely to take responsibility for disciplining their own and other teachers' students. The research, say the authors, has important implications for state and district policy as well as policy governing schools serving low-income minority students. "Finally, a book with complex contextual analyses that turns conventional educational wisdom on its head," says Jacqueline Jordan Irvine, Candler Professor of Urban Education at Emory University.
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