Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/LesleyPerlman

Good Schools in Poor Neighborhoods contrasts highly effective schools serving urban, low-income, minority youth with their more typical, struggling counterparts. Highlighted are two disparate schools: one serving predominately African American students in a large northeastern city and one serving Latino students in a southwestern urban area. Through solid data from original research, as well as lively vignettes and vivid quotes from principals, teachers, parents, and students, a picture of exceptional schools emerges to guide policymakers and practitioners.

This report identifies mathematics and science curricula as well as professional development models at the middle and high school levels that are effective based on their success in increasing student achievement. The goal of the study was to provide some choice to districts and schools that wanted guidance in selecting a curriculum and that wished to use effectiveness as a selection criterion. Unexpectedly, most middle and high school mathematics and science curricula did not have studies of student achievement with comparison groups, and it proved especially difficult to find effects in either math or science for subgroups by sex, minority status, and urban status. Findings strongly suggest that science curricula is more effective when it is inquiry-based, although math curricula can be effective when standards- or traditional-based.

The focus of this review was to identify current math and science curricula and professional development at the middle and high school levels that showed evidence of positive impact on student achievement. Our goal was to come up with enough math and science curricula with relatively credible evaluations to provide some choice to districts and schools that wanted guidance in selecting a curriculum and that wished to use effectiveness as a selection criterion.

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