Abstract
How can we better educate disadvantaged urban students? Drawing on over five years' experience in a broad partnership involving twelve urban professional development schools in five districts, a teachers' union, a comprehensive public university, and several community-based organizations, the contributors to this volume describe how they worked together to help disadvantaged urban students through an innovative professional development program. By networking with educators at different levels and coordinating curriculum projects, they were able to begin overcoming rigid and ineffective mandates and curricula tied to standardized test scores and get through to their students on more meaningful and productive levels. The contributors share their successes and failures with these efforts, as well as insights related to the ethical, political, and academic challenges faced by professional development schools. This book is divided into three parts. Part I, Toward Improving Urban Children's Lives (Ronald David Glass and Pia Lindquist Wong), contains the following: (1) Floating Boats and Solar Ovens: Involving Candidates in Science, Mathematics, and Technology Learning Communities (Lorie Hammond, Julita Lambating, Michael Beus, Paul Winckel, Jane Camm,and Larry Ferlazzo); (2) Science for Social Responsibility (Claudya Lum, Elizabeth Aguirre, Ricardo Martinez, Mercedes Campa-Rodriguez, and Rita Ultreras); and (3) Education of the Community, by the Community,and for the Community: The Language Academy of Sacramento (Susan Baker, Eduardo de Leon, Pamela Phelps, Mario Martin, and Cynthia Suarez). Part II, The Power of Connections: Re-creating Teacher and Teacher Educator Roles (Pia Lindquist Wong and Ronald David Glass), contains the following: (4) Connecting Teacher Educators Across Roles, Domains, and Knowledge Bases (William Thomas Owens); (5) Beyond the Classroom: Candidates Connect to Colleagues, Children, and Communities (Jeanne Malvetti and Christie Wells-Artman); and (6) Structural Shifts and Cultural Transformations: University Faculty Members and Their Work in PDSs (Jana Noel and Deidre B. Sessoms). Part III, The Politics of Transforming Institutions and Institutional Relationships (Pia Lindquist Wong and Ronald David Glass), contains the following: (7) Perspectives on Negotiation and Equilibrium in the Politics of Knowledge: Transforming the University and the School into a PDS Partnership (Kathryn Hayes); (8) Not Starting from Scratch: Applying the Lessons from a Thwarted PDS Effort (Janet Hecsh); (9) Bridging the Disconnect: The Promise of Lesson Study (David Jelinek and Jenna Porter); and (10) Making History by Creating New Traditions: Concluding Reflections and Future Directions (Ronald David Glass and Pia Lindquist Wong). References and an index are included.