Improving Inner-City Schools : Current Directions in Urban District Reform / Jeannie Oakes.

Increasing concern about the overall quality of America's schools has altered federal and state education policy priorities. This shift has resulted in a reduction of federal support, an increase in state-level initiatives, and development of new policies aimed more toward improving the education system generally than toward solving the problems of the most disadvantaged urban schools, which serve poor, minority, and non-English-speaking immigrant children. Through telephone interviews with urban school district administrators and a review of the literature, five types of reforms currently being widely implemented in urban districts were identified: (1) efforts to increase the "effectiveness" of schools, curricula, and instruction; (2) alternative delivery systems; (3) early childhood programs; (4) social supports; and (5) cooperative partnerships. This document analyzes the effectiveness of these direct intervention strategies in addressing the issues in the most troubled urban schools and helping low-income and minority students break their patterns of low achievement, dropping out, and joblessness. The most promising strategies for helping inner-city students are those that will accomplish the following: (1) build capacity at local school sites; (2) provide school autonomy and flexibility in designing and implementing improvement plans; (3) take a broad view of curriculum and instruction; (4) provide real-life incentives for urban students to achieve at school; and (5) coordinate efforts with other institutions and agencies to provide social and economic opportunities beyond the reach of the school. Strategies are analyzed on two tables; a list of 169 references is appended. (BJV)

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