Pennsylvania Reports

Learning from Philadelphia's School Reform: What Do the Research Findings Show So Far?
Research for Action, September 2005

The "Original 86": Tracking Changes to "Original 86" Philadelphia Public Schools Initially Targeted for Intervention Following 2001 State Takeover
Research for Action, September 2005

Time to Engage? Civic Participation in Philadelphia's School Reform
Research for Action, September 2005

Making Progress Toward Graduation: Evidence from the Talent Development High School Model
MDRC, May 2005

Philadelphia's Teacher Hiring and School Assignment Practices: Comparisons with Other Districts
Research for Action, April 2004

Contracting Out Schools: The First Year of the Philadelphia Diverse Provider Model
Research for Action, April 2004

What We CAN Do: A Report on Our Schools, Our Students, and Difficult Behavior
A report on the Philadelphia School District from Philadelphia Citizens for Children and Youth, 2004

Keeping the Promise: The Case for School Reform in the Pittsburgh Public Schools
A report from the Mayor's Commission on Public Education,
September 2003

Poverty, Race, Resources, Results in the Pittsburgh Public Schools
A report commissioned by the Pennsylvania Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), April 2003

Adequate State Financing of Urban Schools: An Analysis of Funding to the Philadelphia Public Schools
Published by the Council of the Great City Schools

Bring School Reform to the Public: Public Engagement Initiatives in Philadelphia from 1995 to 2000
Philadelphia Education Fund, April 2000

The Philadelphia Education Longitudinal Study: Report on the Transition to High School in the School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia Education Fund, 1999

What Philadelphia's Student Teachers Say About Possible Employment in the School District of Philadelphia: 1998-2001
Philadelphia Education Fund, November 2001

National Reports

Beating the Odds VII
Council of the Great City Schools, 2007

Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2003-04
National Center for Education Statistics, September 2006

NAEP 2005 Trial Urban District Assessment
National Center for Education Statistics, November 2005

The Case for Reforming The Staffing Rules in Urban Teachers Union Contracts
The New Teacher Project, November 2005

Inspiration, Perspiration, and Time: Operations and Achievement in Edison Schools
Click here to access the RAND research brief.
RAND, October 2005

The New Demography of America's Schools: Immigration and the No Child Left Behind Act
The Urban Institute, September 2005

Reframing Education: The Partnership Strategy and Public Schools
A report to the Carnegie Corporation of New York by Janice M. Hirota, Ph.D., September 2005

Fact of Fiction: Data Tell the True Story Behind America's Urban School Districts
Standard and Poor's, May 2005

Anatomy of School System Improvement: Performance-Driven Practices in Urban School Districts
New Schools Venture Fund, May 2005

School Improvement Planning: What's Missing?
Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, Spring 2005

Achieving Diversity: Race-Neutral Alternatives in American Education
U.S. Department of Education, 2004

Stronger Schools, Stronger Cities
National League of Cities, April 2004

Improving Urban Student Achievement Through Early Childhood Reform: What State Policymakers Can Do
A paper by Sharon Lynn Kagan, Education Commission of the States, February 2004

The Effects of School Facility Quality on Teacher Retention in Urban School Districts
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, February 2004

Urban School District Accountability Systems
Education Commission of the States, December 2003

Improving Academic Achievement in Urban Schools: What Can Policymakers Do?
Education Commission of the States, November 2003

Missed Opportunities: How We Keep High-Quality Teachers Out of Urban Schools
The New Teacher Project, September 2003

An Impossible Job? The View From the Urban Superintendent's Chair
Center on Reinventing Public Education, July 2003

The Urban Superintendent: Creating Great Schools While Surviving on the Job
Report of a Colloquium of Former Urban Superintendents, Published by the Council of the Great City Schools, February 2003

Immigrant Students, Urban High Schools: The Challenge Continues
A review of programs aiding immigrant students, published by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2003

Status and Trends in the Education of Blacks
National Center for Education Statistics, August 2003

NAEP 2002 Reading and Writing Results for Urban Districts
National Center for Education Statistics, July 2003

Hispanic Youth Dropping Out of U.S. Schools: Measuring the Challenge
By Richard Fry, Pew Hispanic Center, June 2003

Big City School Boards: Problems and Options
Center on Reinventing Public Education, December 2002

Foundations for Success: Case Studies of How Urban School Systems Improve Student Achievement
Council of the Great City Schools, September 2002

Educating English Language Learners in the Nation's Urban Schools
Council of the Great City Schools, October 2001

Making the Grade: A Report on SAT I Results in the Nation's Urban Schools
Council of the Great City Schools, March 2001

Hope for Urban Education: A Study of Nine High-Performing, High-Poverty, Urban Elementary Schools
Study conducted by the Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin, 1999. Report available through the U.S. Department of Education

A New Era in Urban Education?
A policy brief by Diane Ravitch, The Brookings Institution, August 1998

Raising Minority Academic Achievement: A Compendium of Educational Programs and Practices
American Youth Policy Forum