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Small Schools and Urban Youth
Using the Power of School Culture to Engage Students
- Gilberto Q. Conchas - Pennsylvania State University, University of California-Irvine, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Irvine, USA
- Louie F. Rodriguez - University of California, Riverside, USA
Foreword by Hugh Mehan
October 2007 | 168 pages | Corwin
This book explores in-depth the unique aspects of school culture and student personalization characteristic of small learning communities in order to offer insights and suggestions to school reformers, particularly those in urban centers, at all levels and in any kind of school. The authors share conclusions from their original research based in four small learning communities in Boston, MA and Oakland, CA, offering student voice, implications for practice, and suggestions for improving school reform based on the school culture and personalization found in these small learning communities.
Foreword by Hugh “Bud” Mehan
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
1. Digging Beneath the Layers of School Reform: Size, Culture, and Personalization
2. California Career Academies: How Structure and Culture Create Optimism Among Low-Income Urban Youth
3. Structuring Competition and Teamwork: Reproducing the Status Quo and Challenging Inequality Side-by-Side
4. The Case of Boston: How "Small" Schools Forge Academic and Relational Possibilities in the Urban Context
5. Beneath School Structure: How School Culture Shapes Relational and Academic Engagement of Urban High School Students in Boston
6. Conclusion: Towards a Critical Understanding of School Culture
References
Index
"Conchas and Rodriguez’s work is very encouraging in its suggestion that intentional and relational school cultures have some potential to narrow educational achievement disparities."