Papers on "Reforming Urban Education" and similar term paper topics

Paper #060591 :: Reforming Urban Education
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A look at how to create learning communities in inner cities.

Written in 2003; 14,760 words; 84 sources; APA; $ 249.95

Paper Summary:

In this paper the author makes the assumption that organizing schools as learning communities (SaLCs) is generally more beneficial to all members of the school community than organizing schools in the traditional formal-bureaucratic manner. From this perspective, the author briefly compares schools organized in the traditional, formal-bureaucratic manner with SaLCs and then takes a look at current trends in the realm of urban education as well as a number of recent proposals for the reform of urban education. Next, the author argues that the current trends will likely inhibit rather than enhance the development of SaLCs in inner-city areas. With respect to the recent proposals for reform, the author next suggests ways in which the particular proposal could enhance the development of SaLCs followed by the ways in which the proposal could inhibit the development of SaLCs. Specifically, the author argues that that the current proposals for urban education reform, when implemented in isolation, will not create an environment conducive to the transformation of urban secondary schools from bureaucratic institutions to SaLCs. Finally, the paper concludes with the author presenting a group of policy proposals which, when implemented concomitantly, will enhance the probability of the development of SaLCs. The proposed solution will include suggestions for policies generated at the state, district, and school-site levels that focus on supporting some of the main components of SaLCs: increased contact between teachers and students, teacher collaboration, a set of common goals that focus on instruction and caring, a shared sense of norms, values, and beliefs, inclusion of the community at large, and learning that is continual, reciprocal, and transformative.

Outline
Schools as Bureaucratic Institutions and as Learning Communities
Current Trends in the Urban Education Environment
Analyses of Current Proposals for the Reform of Urban Education
Discussion
Policy Implications
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"That the crisis in urban education has reached epic proportions is generally not disputed by educators, researchers, or policy-makers. Indeed, "the overwhelming reality [of urban schools] is run-down buildings, poor attendance, illiteracy, high dropout rates, vandalism and violence, low expectations, and perhaps worst, despair and hopelessness" (Miller, 1992, p. 79). Specifically, the drop-out rate for urban youth is often estimated at close to or even greater than fifty-percent (Comer, 1988; Fine, 1986; Lunenberg, 1992) while the relatively small proportion of urban students who do graduate usually lag far behind the academic achievement level of their more affluent, suburban, Anglo counterparts (Calabrese, 1990; Comer, 1988; Lytle, 1990). Further, urban schools tend to have high teacher turnover rates, low teacher morale, and less qualified teachers (Bruno & Doscher, 1981; Darling-Hammond, 1994). Although there has been some focus on urban elementary schools (much of the initial effective school research was conducted in urban areas), urban schools have generally been ignored by researchers and policy makers over the past fifteen years (Lunenberg, 1992; Miller, 1992). This is especially true of urban secondary schools. Recent rediscovery of the urban education crisis, however, has placed the reform and restructuring of urban schools in the spotlight of reform-minded educators and policy makers in the 1990s (Lunenberg, 1992). A spate of recent reform initiatives, in fact, have been proposed as possible solutions to the urban education crisis."

Tags: districts secondary institutions grade level subject matter hierarchical authority

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