For low-income minority and marginalized communities, American democracy’s educational mission remains unfulfilled. Student voices have provided insight into ways that schools disserve and serve students and how schools can improve in promoting academic achievement; however, academically successful low-income students’ voices—particularly those at the elementary school level—are largely excluded from the literature. Providing a platform for student voices, this qualitative, intrinsic critical case study explored six high achieving low-income students’ views of their academic success and how that success was achieved. Participants were six fifthgrade students, their parents, and teacher, in a school-wide Title I urban public school. Data were collected over a 12-week period through individual interviews, observation, participation, and semiformal conversations. Using an immersive pattern analysis, four main categories emerged from the student interview data: student beliefs about their role; classroom structures; teacher practices; and family support. The study found four principal success factors: a dynamic effort-driven view of success and intelligence; a rigorous dialogic classroom that prioritized student voice, critical thinking, collaboration, and social imagination; an accountable classroom culture of high expectations and mastery learning; and the richly diverse experiences and teachings of parents and families as valuable funds of knowledge. Implications and recommendations are included for policy, practice, and future research.

As the student population in U.S. public schools becomes more diverse, with an increase of students of color and from low socioeconomic backgrounds, it is critical that the opportunity gaps in our education system are addressed to provide an equitable education for urban youth. To mitigate these gaps, there is a need for an experienced urban teacher workforce, but urban schools face staffing challenges that make this difficult. There is an exceptional need for Latina/o teachers, who demonstrate positive impacts on Latina/o students, the largest minority population nationwide, however, the retention rate amongst Latina/o teachers is lower than that of other demographics. This phenomenological qualitative research study explored the personal and professional factors that sustain Latina veteran urban teachers in a predominantly Latina/o school district through the development of testimonios. Data was collected through a survey, instructional documents, and interviews to produce the individual testimonios of each participant’s history as a Latina veteran urban teacher and a cross-case analysis of the participants’ shared experiences. The findings demonstrated that Latina veteran urban teachers possessed la chispa, the spark, for serving students who share their cultural and linguistic identity. These teachers ignited, fueled, and preserved their chispa through various personal and professional factors, including a commitment to serving urban students, a dedication to continuous professional growth, and the support from personal and professional networks. These findings can inform teacher preparation programs and school systems on how to prepare and sustain Latina teachers for long-term careers in urban education.

College enrollment is experiencing an upward trend; however, the quality of institutions selected by minority students remains a question. Promising minority students are failing to select high quality colleges and universities, despite academic components that would leave them otherwise qualified for admission. In fact, nearly 80% of high academic achieving low-income, minority students under match when selecting a college or university (Obama & Obama, 2014). The purpose of this study was to examine the factors leading to selection of institution for Gates Millennium Scholars while examining the relationship between college selection and socioeconomic status, cost, high school grade point average (GPA), family support, need for achievement, self efficacy, persistence, advisement, and technology for Gates Millennium Scholars. Pearson Correlation was utilized to examine survey data collected from 87 Gates Millennium Scholars. The implications of collection selection for low- income, minority students are significant in understanding the needs of this highly diverse student population. This study sought to identify the variables that significantly impact college selection for low-income minority students.

Joe Louis Clark was the principal of Eastside High School (EHS) located in Paterson, New Jersey from 1982 to 1989. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore Mr. Clark’s leadership style as principal of EHS, and to investigate from the point of view of Mr. Clark’s former students, teachers, and administrators what, if any effect, his leadership style had at EHS, as well as on his students, teachers, and administrators’ lives during and subsequent to their time at EHS. I conducted this investigation by giving voice to my classmates, teachers, administrators and myself. I graduated from EHS during Mr. Clark’s tenure and I am a member of his first graduating class in 1986. When Mr. Clark arrived as principal, EHS was characterized by large numbers of students living at or below the poverty line, overcrowded classrooms, and outdated resources. Additionally, there were issues such as: high dropout rates, drugs, teenage pregnancy, violence towards students and teachers. In an attempt to raise the students’ Minimum Basic Skills Test scores and eliminate the violence at EHS, Mr. Clark was hired as the principal. Through face-to-face and telephone semi-structured, open ended in-depth interviews with twenty-two participants, I uncovered personal views of Mr. Clark’s leadership style. Mr. Clark used a leadership style that was characterized by the informants as autocratic, directive, charismatic and caring. The voices of his students, teachers, and administrators speak volumes about the strategies he developed that made an impact on their lives in addition to reforming EHS.

Abstract The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the development of urban elementary teacher leaders as captured in narrative data and analyzed through the theoretical lenses of role identity, distributed leadership, teacher leadership and urban teacher leadership. The narratives of five teacher leaders provided rich descriptions that made it possible to: (a) examine possible mechanisms for encouraging leadership assertion choices; (b) identify support practices for encouraging leadership within future teachers in the urban context; and (c) provide insight for building leadership roles in the school environment for those who coordinate professional development activities. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and post-interview reflections over the course of three months. All of the participants in the study worked in urban settings for the duration of the study and were employed by the same school system in the southeastern United States. Narrative analysis, analysis of narratives and a cross-case analysis strategies were used to reveal participants’ perceptions of individual roles, their journeys of leadership development, and the influences of their experiences in urban contexts on their leadership choices. Recommendations were made to enhance preparation, mentoring, and professional development of potential and current urban teacher leaders.

Joe Louis Clark was the principal of Eastside High School (EHS) located in Paterson, New Jersey from 1982 to 1989. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore Mr. Clark’s leadership style as principal of EHS, and to investigate from the point of view of Mr. Clark’s former students, teachers, and administrators what, if any effect, his leadership style had at EHS, as well as on his students, teachers, and administrators’ lives during and subsequent to their time at EHS. I conducted this investigation by giving voice to my classmates, teachers, administrators and myself. I graduated from EHS during Mr. Clark’s tenure and I am a member of his first graduating class in 1986. When Mr. Clark arrived as principal, EHS was characterized by large numbers of students living at or below the poverty line, overcrowded classrooms, and outdated resources. Additionally, there were issues such as: high dropout rates, drugs, teenage pregnancy, violence towards students and teachers. In an attempt to raise the students’ Minimum Basic Skills Test scores and eliminate the violence at EHS, Mr. Clark was hired as the principal. Through face-to-face and telephone semi-structured, open ended in-depth interviews with twenty-two participants, I uncovered personal views of Mr. Clark’s leadership style. Mr. Clark used a leadership style that was characterized by the informants as autocratic, directive, charismatic and caring. The voices of his students, teachers, and administrators speak volumes about the strategies he developed that made an impact on their lives in addition to reforming EHS.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that impact teachers’ preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy with African-American girls in single-gender classrooms. Three Single-Gender Academies were included in the study. Twenty participants responded to a teacher survey, nine teachers and two administrators were interviewed, and lesson plans from six of the teachers interviewed were also collected. Descriptive statistics, regression tests and Pearson’s Correlations were used to analyze quantitative data and displayed a significant relationship between professional development and teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. A significant relationship also existed between teacher preparation program and teacher preparedness for implementing single-gender instructional strategies. No significant relationship was found between teacher demographics and teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. Analysis of qualitative data revealed that certain teacher demographics did impact teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy for the teachers in this research investigation. Qualitative analysis of data provided evidence to support the quantitative findings about professional development and single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy with African-American girls in single-gender classrooms. Moreover, analysis of qualitative data revealed that specific behaviors of administrators influenced teacher preparedness for and implementation of single-gender instructional strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. Results of this research investigation provide implications and recommendations for school districts that incorporate single-gender classroom environments, faculty at Educational Departments at local universities and alternative teacher preparation programs and administrators that lead these schools.

The success of The Jacksonville Commitment Scholars Program is well documented. These scholars are retained at a much higher rate and the six year graduation rate of the first two cohorts was higher than the general body. They are all students whose families have minimal financial resources and were eligible for the free or reduced lunch program during their high school years. They were subsequently eligible for the Pell Grant upon college entry demonstrating significant financial need. Many of these students were first-generation students. They have been successful but the specifics of how they collectively found such success was unknown. Although the program was a common element among all the students, this collective case study was intended to clarify the extent to which the students attribute their success to their experience in the scholars program, to identify challenges they faced during their college years, and to identify supports that helped them persist to graduation. Five themes emerged from the data. These themes were the scholarship and staff of The Jacksonville Commitment, the campus fit and faculty constructs of the theory of integration, ambition, adult guides, and the concept of anonymity vs. familiarity.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether attendance, academic achievement, school climate, student stress, and teacher burnout improved in an inner city, predominantly African American high school after the implementation of a 4 x 4 block schedule. Data concerning student academic achievement and absenteeism in 14 classrooms were gathered from the school's Annual Scholastic Reports. Data concerning the instructional practices of eight teachers were gathered through the teacher version of the Instructional Practices Survey and compared to a student version of the Instructional Practices Survey to determine whether student perception of instructional practices coincided with the teachers' perceptions. Classroom climate was examined by administering the Classroom Environment Survey to seven teachers and 130 of their students. Student stress levels were examined from the results of the School Situation Survey returned by 106 students. The Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to gather data concerning the burnout levels of 13 teachers. This study found that increases in grade point average and decreases in absenteeism were not achieved after three years of block scheduling. Instructional practices of the teachers involved in this study did not change significantly. School climate, student stress levels, and teacher burnout were found to be in the average range.

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 a traditional 4-year undergraduate teacher preparation program. Several issues influenced their perceptions: prior experiences and attitudes regarding diversity, coursework, and field experiences. The theoretical frameworks of Vygotsky’s (1962) social cognition learning model, Piaget’s theory of psychological constructivism (1952), and Moustaka’s heuristic research (1994) framed this research study. Using a qualitative method, focus groups and interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of the attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of novice teachers towards the effectiveness of traditional teacher preparation programs. Pattern coding guided the identification and coding of themes in the data. This generated themes regarding attitudes, beliefs, race, social class, and parental involvement. Recommendations for teacher education included modifying field experiences, extensive xi training of directing teachers, matching preservice teachers with strong mentors, and including content in preparation programs focused on parental involvement. Recognizing the perceptions of novice teachers may assist in influencing schools of education to strengthen current programs to better prepare teacher candidates to work with students of diverse backgrounds.