The present study sought to examine the perceptions of giftedness and identification procedures held by experienced teachers of gifted minority students. Twenty-seven 4th-grade teachers of gifted students in an urban school system with a high representation of minority and economically disadvantaged students were surveyed. Results indicated that experienced teachers still held a narrow conception of giftedness and were not aware of how culture and environmental factors may influence the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Economically Disadvantaged, Minority Group Children, Family Problems, Urban Schools,...
On the basis of the author's experience in coordinating a number of EU research projects aimed at improving the transition from school to vocational training for disadvantaged young people, the following paper focuses on problems in comparing support measures in Europe and on the practical relevance of comparative EU research. The first section sets out the dilemmas in this type of European comparative transition research and provides an overview of research to date. Welfare state and youth...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Young Adults, Foreign Countries, Guidance, Vocational Education, Comparative...
Students have problems in their lives, but can teachers help them? Should teachers help? The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act and its emphasis on standardized test results have forced school systems to produce high scores, and in turn school administrators pressure teachers to prepare students for taking standardized tests. Teachers may want to deal with students' problems, but a required curriculum emphasizing skill drills has compromised teaching time. Teachers are not free to determine what...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Student Needs, Federal Legislation, Teacher Responsibility, Problem Solving,...
Many educational initiatives have been and continue to be based on a macro-social system understanding of communal roles, values, norms, interactions, perceptions, and realities. This practice neglects the unique impediments and social norms that exist within the myriad of micro-social systems in the United States. This work draws attention to the disassociation of America's inner-city youth through an analysis of educational initiatives and macro-social system beliefs that have prescribed a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Youth, Urban Areas, Educational Improvement, Critical Theory, Educational...
I am honored by the articulate comments of the respondents to the questions raised in the lead paper, "Two Wrongs Do Not Make a Right: Sacrificing the Needs of Gifted Students Does Not Solve Society's Unsolved Problems." These five colleagues have proved themselves to be sensitive to the multiple issues and constituencies involved and highly constructive in their suggestions of steps to be taken to right the wrongs to which I referred. While we may not agree on some of the details...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Public Schools, Student Needs, Disproportionate Representation,...
In this paper, we present findings from the second stage of a three year longitudinal study involving 3,570 students aged 13-18 in a London Borough looking at the impact of Widening Participation (WP) on the attitudes of students. We outline findings from a previous stage and then focus specifically on two cohorts of Year 10 students (aged 14-15) in two consecutive years. The students completed the specially designed Attitudes to Higher Education Questionnaire (AHEQ) and provided information on...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Postsecondary Education, School Attitudes, Academic Aspiration, Social Influences,...
How should district and school leaders improve education for students traditionally underserved by public education: by increasing control over teaching and curriculum, or by empowering groups of teachers to have more collective autonomy, responsibility, and opportunities for professional learning? The second approach--promoting multiple trajectories of learning among groups of teachers--has advantages, as well as some challenges, as a means of closing various achievement gaps. Sociocultural...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Achievement, Teacher Collaboration, Educational Change, English (Second...
Teaching children who are victims of Katrina is not a multicultural education issue per se. However, there are some intersections between the victims of Katrina and the educational responses to them, and some of the primary constituent groups and issues that multicultural education represents and intends to serve. These are children of color and poverty who are marginalized in schools relative to resource allocation, learning opportunity, and academic achievement. Unfortunately, the lessons...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Multicultural Education, Student Needs, Educationally Disadvantaged, Disadvantaged...
Schools in 47 high-poverty school districts located mostly along the Atlantic Coast of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia may have a head start on new requirements of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, thanks to a $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Begun in April 2000, the five-year Coastal Rural Systemic Initiative (CRSI) is striving to stimulate sustainable systemic improvements in science and mathematics education in school districts with a long...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Poverty, Federal Legislation, Disadvantaged Youth, School Districts,...
For decades, educators and researchers have observed practices of educational inequality in U.S. schools. In a multicultural democracy, schooling without educational equality constitutes injustice. This article explores the limitation of the current traditional teacher education in preparing highly competent and socially conscious teachers needed for today's urban school communities. Specifically, it explores traditional practices in teacher education and how they might contribute to the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Education, Urban Schools, Equal Education, Teacher Education Programs,...
This article focuses on the first phase of a recent National Research Center on Giftedness and Talented (NRC/GT) project, which used survey research to target a disproportionate nationally stratified random sample of primary grade teachers about their beliefs and practices related to talent development in young children and their responses to case studies describing four different types of students--one easily identified as gifted from a traditional paradigm; the others manifested talents...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academically Gifted, Primary Education, Talent Development, Minority Group Children,...
The society is violent, the urban neighborhoods are violent, and the schools are violent. People who want to teach in urban schools need to recognize the reality of the situation they will enter. Beginning teachers must recognize that preventing violence is an integral part of their legitimate work; the more effective they are at empowering youngsters, the less violence they will engender; the less effective they are, the more violence they will cause. Beneath the surface and not very far...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Neighborhoods, Urban Teaching, Violence, Teaching Conditions,...
Mary Story, Karen Kaphingst, and Simone French argue that researchers and policymakers focused on childhood obesity have paid insufficient attention to child care. Although child care settings can be a major force in shaping children's dietary intake, physical activity, and energy balance--and thus in combating the childhood obesity epidemic--researchers know relatively little about either the nutrition or the physical activity environment in the nation's child care facilities. What research...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Obesity, Physical Activities, Preschool Education, Prevention, State Standards,...
Richard Murnane and Jennifer Steele argue that if the United States is to equip its young people with the skills essential in the new economy, high-quality teachers are more important than ever. In recent years, the demand for effective teachers has increased as enrollments have risen, class sizes have fallen, and a large share of the teacher workforce has begun to retire. Women and minorities have more career options than ever before, making it increasingly difficult to attract and retain the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Salaries, Teacher Effectiveness, Teacher Persistence, Economically...
The authors examine black, white, and Hispanic children's differing experiences in early childhood care and education and explore links between these experiences and racial and ethnic gaps in school readiness. Children who attend center care or preschool programs enter school more ready to learn, but both the share of children enrolled in these programs and the quality of care they receive differ by race and ethnicity. Black children are more likely to attend preschool than white children, but...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Children, School Readiness, Learning Readiness, Poverty, Low Income,...
The author documents pervasive racial disparities in the health of American children and analyzes how and how much those disparities contribute to racial gaps in school readiness. She explores a broad sample of health problems common to U.S. children, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, asthma, and lead poisoning, as well as maternal health problems and health-related behaviors that affect children's behavioral and cognitive readiness for school. If a health problem is to affect...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African American Children, Behavior Problems, School Readiness, Early Childhood...
The author considers whether differences in genetic endowment may account for racial and ethnic differences in school readiness. While acknowledging an important role for genes in explaining differences "within" races, he nevertheless argues that environment explains most of the gap "between" blacks and whites, leaving little role for genetics. Based on a wide range of direct and indirect evidence, particularly work by Klaus Eyferth and James Flynn, the author concludes that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Readiness, War, Disadvantaged Youth, Academic Achievement, Parenting Styles,...
An unprecedented number of young children in Sub-Saharan Africa are being adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, yet programs specifically designed to meet the developmental needs of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) from birth to age 8 are rare. This article summarizes the daunting array of challenges facing young OVC in Sub-Saharan Africa, and profiles research and action projects undertaken by four members of the inaugural graduate-level cohort of the ECDVU to promote high-quality...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Young Children, Child Development, Acquired Immunodeficiency...
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 has increased emphasis on "closing the gap" between the achievement of African-American and disadvantaged children and that of their respective peers. Using the 2001 results of Kentucky's accountability tests (e.g., CTBS-5, KCCT), Chi-square analyses were performed to determine whether, when disaggregated by quartile (CTBS-5) or proficiency-level (KCCT), a significant difference existed for each school between the distributions of disadvantaged and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Poverty, Federal Legislation, Disadvantaged Youth, Academic Achievement, School Size,...
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has ushered in an era of increased accountability and assumed universal proficiency at a time when there is significant variability in children's abilities as they enter kindergarten. Despite NCLB's emphasis on the use of evidence-based practices to improve students' achievement, it explicitly recommends grade retention as an intervention for low performing students, resulting in increased numbers of retained students in the past decade. Not only has the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Early Intervention, Grade Repetition, Federal Legislation, Academic Achievement,...
Over the last three decades 45 states have been confronted with school finance lawsuits. This phenomenon has led to a proliferation of school funding equity studies. However, to date, most studies of the equity of state school finance systems have focused on differences in expenditures between school districts. More recent research has found evidence that this approach overlooks important allocation decisions made at the district level, thus failing to identify continuing inequity. The few...
Topics: ERIC Archive, State Schools, Poverty, Educational Finance, Disadvantaged Youth, School Districts,...
This article explores how four minority students in a university access program reconciled their presence on merit. They shared their experiences over two years through their application statements, life history interviews, weekly group sessions, and personal journal entries. Consistent with the discourse of merit, participants believed that by exercising agency and taking responsibility for their schooling, education will work to their benefit. They reconceptualized the access program as a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Scholarships, Minority Groups, Immigrants, Disadvantaged Youth, Student Adjustment,...
Considered a successful university-operated, urban middle school serving an overwhelmingly African American student body, "Charter" Middle School was dechartered suddenly, then merged a year later with students from a neighborhood school to become "Choice" Middle School, a school of choice in the urban district. Using a situated learning framework and an ethnographic methodology, this paper examines teacher teams in the school--one aspect of the schooling model the urban...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Empowerment, School Restructuring, Neighborhood Schools, Middle Schools,...
For many students, the experience of school mathematics is not a positive one. Processes of exclusion operate to disadvantage students along social class, race and gender lines. For students from backgrounds that are not part of the success regime, significant scaffolding by teachers is needed if they are to be successful. In this article, the authors discuss two key factors that shape the learning environments for learning mathematics. The authors also propose a number of features of a more...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Bias, Teacher Attitudes, Mathematics Education, Equal Education, Disadvantaged...
In the fall of 2005 the principal and teachers at Knickerbacker Middle School (KMS) were worried. KMS was a "School in Good Standing" but had not hit federal or state benchmarks because of low subgroup scores on the English Language Arts (ELA) test--especially scores received by economically disadvantaged students, about half of this urban school's student population. KMS would be identified as a "School in Need of Improvement" in 2006 if the ELA scores did not improve. This...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Urban Schools, Economically Disadvantaged, Middle Schools, Middle School Students,...
This case study describes a rural school district's efforts to identify historically underrepresented gifted students (HUGS) more effectively than in the past. The district developed new policy; disseminated the policy with lists of characteristics of HUGS; provided a workshop for first-grade teachers to encourage early referrals; and provided alternative tests to students who were referred for evaluation and who scored at least one standard deviation above the mean on an individually...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Rural Schools, Academically Gifted, School Districts, Counties, Disproportionate...
The early childhood program matrix in this article delineates the various requirements of nine publicly funded programs in Illinois that provide services to young children and families. The first section of the matrix addresses the design of each program and logistics, such as funding, payment, eligibility, and amount of services. The second section of the matrix addresses the ways in which the local community is involved with services and the extent to which the programs are required or...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Young Children, Human Resources, Early Childhood Education, Evaluation,...
There is concern that parents under stress may not be effective in promoting health and preventing injury in young children, but research in this area has been limited. To explore this issue, a study was conducted to look at the relationship between self-reported parenting stress and actions taken to promote health and to prevent injury in preschool-age children. The study was conducted in collaboration with 15 Head Start programs in northeast Ohio. Five hundred thirty-one parents or guardians...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Support Groups, Accident Prevention, Injuries, Disadvantaged Youth, Child...
This study analyzed Early Head Start Research and Evaluation (EHSRE) study data, examining the effect of parenting classes on parenting behaviors and children's cognitive outcomes. The study analyzed three sets of dependent variables: parental language and cognitive stimulation, parent-child interactive activities, and the Bayley Mental Development Index (MDI) of children. The analysis results, using Longitudinal Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) and multivariate analyses, revealed that...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disadvantaged Youth, Child Rearing, Parent Child Relationship, Cognitive Development,...
This article chronicles the evolution of legislation for Texas open-enrollment charter schools to their implementation by demonstrating how these schools have (or have not) used their freedom from state-mandated requirements to develop innovative learning environments as well as to bring innovative curricula into the classroom. The investigative focus was on an analysis of Texas open-enrollment charter school legislation, from 1995 (74th legislative session) to the 77th legislative session in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Needs, Charter Schools, Disadvantaged Youth, Teacher Persistence, Labor...
The efficacy of three behavior management techniques used in a Head Start classroom was examined. The three techniques included: (a) techniques currently used by the teacher, (b) response cost, and (c) the Level System (token economy). The current study used an ABACA single subject withdrawal design with follow-up where all conditions were implemented until stability was reached. Classroom behavior was evaluated by both behavioral observation and teacher report. Children's and teacher's...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Techniques, Student Behavior, Preschool Children, Disadvantaged Youth,...
The current project evaluated the use of behavior management techniques utilized in Parent- Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in head start classrooms. The sample included seven Head Start classrooms; four classrooms receiving treatment and three classrooms receiving no treatment. Evaluation of the progress included observation of teacher and student behavior and teacher report of class manageability and number of time-outs. Results indicated that child behavior improved throughout the study for...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Behavior, Student Behavior, Disadvantaged Youth, Behavior Modification,...
This paper examines the significance of social network and social capital in youth transition from school to work, with a focus on both instrumental and expressive aspects. In recent years the transition of Japanese young people has changed drastically, similar to young people in other industrialised countries. The individualisation of transition has proceeded and collective guidelines or public systems have become less helpful. Thus, their transition has begun to depend more on their social...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Social Networks, Social Capital, Disadvantaged Youth, Social Support Groups,...
This study investigated how school and public librarians can become better disseminators of health information and improve health information literacy in small and rural communities in a selected research area. We used the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas as our study area, composed of the economically depressed Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Willacy counties, populated largely by people of Mexican descent. We used a Delphi method in which an expert panel of school and public librarians (N = 19)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Delphi Technique, Health Promotion, Elementary Secondary Education, Caregivers,...
This article explores central elements that facilitate successful mathematics professional development in urban secondary schools through a case study of one long-term effort. The following research question guided this study: How can schools structure professional development that supports teacher learning and addresses the complex realities of urban practice? This study took place in an urban school (The City School [pseudonymn]: 1,500 students, grades 6-12) located in a large city. Most of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Teacher Certification, Credentials, Urban Schools, Secondary School Teachers,...
A longitudinal study of student growth gains was conducted in Title I schools to assess growth in reading comprehension and critical thinking. Results suggested that all students benefited from the intervention of Project Athena units of study designed for high-ability learners. In addition, the study suggested that the comparison curriculum also benefited learners. Implications for practice include the use of high-level curriculum with all learners to elevate instruction and enhance critical...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Units of Study, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Program Effectiveness,...
This report has documented changes between 1987 and 2003 in several important outcomes of youth with disabilities who had been out of high school up to 2 years, as measured in NLTS and NLTS2. The stage was set for interpreting these findings in two earlier reports (Wagner Cameto, & Newman, 2003; Wagner, Newman, & Cameto, 2004), which examined change over time in the characteristics and school experiences of youth with disabilities while they still were in secondary school. They offered...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disabilities, Out of School Youth, Educational Experience, Special Needs Students,...
This qualitative study examines alternative arts-based education in two urban educational settings for underrepresented or marginalized youth. In particular, the authors use postcolonial and feminist theories to create borderland spaces where marginalized youth can develop strong identities, establish a community mindset, and cultivate leadership skills through supplementary arts education programs. Our goal with this work is not only to empower youth but also to bridge the gap between...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Art Education, Change Agents, Urban Education, Nontraditional Education,...
The purpose of this study was to compare the parent/child interactions between Russian immigrant and non-immigrant families in a rural Missouri school setting. A questionnaire was administered to 30 American families and 30 Russian immigrant families. Data concerning developmental level upon kindergarten entry were gathered from kindergarten screening protocols. Findings revealed that there were significance differences between the two sets of parents for the twelve literacy activities. Also...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Immersion Programs, Disadvantaged Youth, Kindergarten, Literacy Education, Early...
"Cura personalis" (care of the individual) represents one of the core ideals of all Jesuit colleges and universities. At one urban Jesuit college, faculty members of The School of Education and Human Services and The College of Arts and Sciences initiated a service-learning project in a freshman level pedagogical core course. One goal of the Children's Literature course was to promote deeper understanding, empathy, and action in undergraduate students towards working with children in...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Undergraduate Students, Urban Schools, Learning Activities, Service Learning, Student...
Since 1999, the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) has provided funding to provincial school authorities for projects designed to improve student learning and performance. Conducted in three-year cycles, this unique approach has successfully helped to initiate approximately 1,600 grassroots projects led by school districts, teachers, parents, and students across the province. The following comprehensive review examines 18 selected projects selected by Alberta Education (Cycle 2,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, High Schools, At Risk Students, Educational Change, Foreign Countries, Graduation,...
In the past, early childhood programs provided either full day care for young children whose parents were employed, or part day enrichment experiences for families who did not need care for their children while they worked. Gradually these two strands (care and education) began to merge into the field which is now called childhood education and care (or early care and education). The realization that many children were entering kindergarten without the experiences they needed to be successful...
Topics: ERIC Archive, School Readiness, Poverty, Early Childhood Education, Disadvantaged Youth, Young...
This theoretical paper explores the use of online journaling in an educational administration program to interrogate spaces of "otherness"--the geographical spaces of cities where poor children and children of color live--and the dangerous memories prospective administrators may have about diversity. The cultures of most educational administration programs do not help graduate students "dig beneath the surface" of the seemingly benign recipes of current school reform to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Education, Graduate Students, Educational Administration, Sexual...
One hundred years ago, Chocolate Magnate Milton S. Hershey and his wife Catherine signed the deed of trust creating the Hershey Industrial School in the heart of their Pennsylvania farming community. They had no children of their own and wanted to help orphan boys get a good education. The couple eventually left their entire fortune to the school. This article features Milton Hershey School (MHS), a school that provides everything for children from disadvantaged backgrounds--a top-notch...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Disadvantaged Youth, Academic Achievement, Vocational Education, Elementary Secondary...
Following the mandates of state and national accreditation bodies and in keeping with what is considered best practices, teacher education programs nationwide require students to engage in early field experiences as part of preservice preparation. Accreditation bodies such as the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE, 2008) suggest that field experiences be implemented and evaluated as a means of fostering development of the knowledge, skills, and dispositions expected...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Preservice Teachers, Teacher Education Programs, Field...
Across the United States, policy makers and early childhood experts are focusing on implementing and evaluating a range of interventions designed to improve school readiness for young children living in poverty. This article provides an overview of the various factors that threaten optimal development of young children living in poverty and that place them at risk for emotional and behavioral problems. The article then addresses the challenges to meeting the needs of these children and their...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Health Needs, School Readiness, Poverty, Mental Health, Young Children, Child Care,...
This paper captures the impact of the Global Economic Crisis on educational programs serving minority groups in developing countries. It has been established that the most vulnerable groupings include nomadic and pastoralist communities, slum dwellers, children in war zones, and women. Various educational interventions such as mobile schooling, dual shift learning, scholarships, and distance learning have been utilized to mitigate the aggravations these groups experience in an effort to catch...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Distance Education, Government Role, Foreign Countries, Scholarships, Minority...
It's fairly well known that high-quality preschool programs can have life-altering impacts on disadvantaged children, including reductions in school dropout and crime, and increased earnings. Not as well known is that terrific preschool programs have important academic and social benefits for middle-class children too. Decades of research indicate that if high-quality preschool were offered to all children, the benefits would far outweigh the costs. In this article, the authors discuss the key...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preschool Education, Dropouts, Disadvantaged Youth, Public Education, Program...
Recruiting, preparing, and retaining high quality secondary mathematics and science teachers are three of the most critical problems in the nation's urban schools that serve a vast majority of children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Although the factors contributing to these problems are complex, one area that has caught the attention of leaders of the teacher education community centers are the alternative pathways (or routes) through which teachers are trained and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Preservice Teacher Education, Urban Schools, Disadvantaged Youth, Experimental...
A longitudinal research study was conducted at a public university in Pennsylvania on a sample of 129 at-risk students from a state-funded program (Act 101) designed to provide support services for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. This research employed a non-experimental, ex post facto methodology to assess the impact of tutoring on persistence, retention, and graduation. Study variables included measures of academic performance, retention, use and frequency of tutoring,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educationally Disadvantaged, Academic Achievement, At Risk Students, Credits, Program...