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The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 25.7% of individuals residing in the United States were under the age of 18 in the year 2003 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004a). Within that group 17.6%, about 12 million children, were living in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004b). Of the children classified as living in poverty, most lived in metropolitan areas. As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), metropolitan areas are geographic entities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, or an urbanized area made up of a central place and adjacent territories where the general population density is at least 1000 people per square mile of land (U.S. Census Bureau 2004c). The largest city in a metropolitan area is called a “central city” or an urban center. These densely populated urban cities are home to most children living in poverty in metropolitan areas.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate computer literacy competencies among rural and urban students in India and its prime objectives are to find out: how rural and urban students use computers, what is the purpose of computers for these students and what problems have the students encountered while using computers.

Scheduled interviews were conducted to collect necessary data from rural and urban students. The interview schedules consisted of various questions designed to elicit details about the students’ use of computers. A total of 600 interview schedules were collected and data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for windows to test the formulated hypothesis.

The findings of the study indicate that the infrastructural facilities varied among rural and urban schools. Another notable finding of the study was that majority (91.33 percent) of urban students used computers compared to a significantly less percentage of rural students (32.33 percent). Most rural students have not used computers mainly because they do not know how to (49.75 percent) followed by lack of support from teachers (48.76 percent) and non-availability of computers in their schools (48.27 percent). Electrical power failure was another major problem faced by both urban students (31.75 percent) and rural students (40.20 percent).

This study attempted to learn about the computer literacy competencies among the students and the digital divide in Indian schools. On the basis of the findings, the study has recommended guidelines to bridge the digital gap. These findings and recommendations will potentially be helpful to school authorities and the government in order to take the necessary measurements to bridge the digital gap between the rural and urban students.

Students living in urban environments tend to have lower academic achievement and college- and career-readiness skills than students living in suburban environments, as well as tend to be more at-risk for social-emotional learning problems. Research indicates that several school and community variables are related to this education discrepancy, and aligning these variables to best meet the needs of students is the best way to improve educational outcomes. This chapter will describe a collective impact initiative designed to align school, community, and nonprofit resources in an urban environment to best address the needs of students and increase academic success.

This chapter uses micro data from the Brazilian Pesquisa Nacional Por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) between 1981 and 2002 to ascertain the role that local labor demand – proxied by male adult employment in the area of residence – plays in shaping the work and schooling decisions of children aged 10–15 years. We find that child work is on average procyclical, while school enrollment is essentially unaffected by local labor market conditions: As local labor demand conditions improve, children are more likely to combine work with school and are less likely to be inactive. One exception is young urban boys with older brothers: These children experience a fall in employment when local labor demand is stronger. This result is consistent with older children subsidizing younger siblings’ schooling and play time.

Urban schools serve a diverse student population that includes African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, and “poor” European Americans. The school size and location and the composition of student population play a major part in determining learning outcomes of a particular school (Mukuria, 2002). The Carnegie Report (1988) described many urban schools as having a large, diverse population and located in “poor” neighborhoods. The report indicated that many schools lack purpose, coherence, and unifying culture and that they have neglected buildings that give them a negative appearance. In addition, these schools lack meaningful instructional programs and regular routines as well as a strong sense of community. As a result, they demonstrate the instability to establish a consensus on a unifying culture, which to a large extent, leads to disciplinary problems.

In this chapter, we discuss teaching physical education to Black male students in urban schools. We present a brief account of the history and status of physical education and specifically examine school physical education, particularly for Black male students in urban geographical contexts. We also offer strategies to counter the narrative of Black male school failure and present strategies for addressing the needs of urban teachers and Black male students.

Differences among elementary, junior high, and senior high school principals' perceptions of their administrative task competence; involvement with central office; autonomy; job satisfaction; and length of work week were investigated in relation to social forces confronting the principalship and characteristics of traditional principal preparation programs. Questionnaires mailed to a random sample of 450 principals in rural, urban, and suburban districts yielded a 64 per cent return. All principals perceived themselves competent in administrative tasks. However, suburban principals were more involved with central office and experienced greater autonomy than urban principals. Urban principals worked similar hours and were uniformly satisfied unlike suburban principals who varied significantly in level of satisfaction and hours worked. Revisions in principal preparation programs were mandated.

The purpose of this paper is to apply analysis of public discourses on Ze Xiao to explore and interpret the power relationships shaping inequality in admission to public junior high schools in urban China.

This study first introduces the rise of Ze Xiao as an educational phenomenon in China. It then elucidates power relationships in public school admission by analyzing continuities and changes in stakeholders’ interaction in public school admission. It concludes by discussing educational reform for equal public school admission in urban China. Data were collected from written and spoken texts about public school admission, including newspaper articles from the 1980s to the 2000s, policy documents and interviews with relevant stakeholders.

Findings demonstrate that multi-layered power relationships caused diverse inequalities in admission to public secondary education in urban China. These are represented by political and institutional privileges and an imbalance in education development during the social transition from a profit-driven approach in the 1990s to a balance-centered one after 2000. Arguably, there is a necessity to further promote a systematic reform to terminate the privileges and imbalance for an equal and balanced public secondary education in urban China post-2015.

This study attempts to make a contribution toward reconstructing the meaning of inequality in admission to public junior high schools in urban areas by revealing the power relationships among stakeholders constituted through their interactions in public education during the different stages of socio-economic development in urban China.

The American schools are more racially and ethnically diverse and increasing at a faster pace than in the past. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 [NCLB] defines diversity in terms of group differences, not individual variability. Common groupings are white, African American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American. However, each state is free to select their own groupings for diversity and several states include limited English proficient students as a subgroup. This chapter examines the fastest growing addition to+ American public schools, immigrant students with limited English proficiency and in need of bilingual education. I examine how the states hope to close the achievement gap for students with Limited English Proficiency under NCLB

Beliefs about teaching influence practice and can play a powerful role in the day-to-day decision-making of teachers. Pre-service teachers commonly accrue their original set of beliefs on teaching from teacher preparation programs or personal experiences, but unlike teachers with more experience, new teachers are more susceptible to changing their beliefs on teaching once they become official teachers of record. If these beliefs change in a negative way, such as by adopting a set of beliefs that views students through a deficit lens, or capable of achieving less than their privileged counterparts, then schools will continue to foster tendencies for social reproduction instead of tendencies for social justice. In urban schools, this increase in negative perceptions of students is even more common as new teachers face challenges that are less likely to occur in non-urban schools. Findings suggest that new teachers do change their beliefs during their first year, and that these beliefs often reflect the beliefs of trusted and close colleagues within their social networks. While some teachers experienced positive changes in their beliefs and teaching practices, other teachers experienced negative changes in their beliefs that unfavorably affected students. Most teachers were unaware of their belief changes, but offered explanations for how and why their beliefs could have changed without their noticing over the course of the study. Implications and possible directions for future research are discussed.