Good Schools Poor Neighborhoods Defying Demographics, Achieving Success

In a nation that holds equal opportunity as its most fundamental ideal, poor children--especially poor minority children--usually receive a lower-quality education than their better-off peers. But some schools have beaten the odds. Good Schools in Poor Neighborhoods contrasts highly effective schools serving urban, low-income, minority youth with their more typical counterparts. Highlighted are two disparate schools: one serving predominately African American students in a large northeastern city and one serving Latino students in the Southwest. Through solid data from original research, as well as vignettes from principals, teachers, parents, and students, a picture of exceptional schools emerges to guide policymakers and practitioners.

Beatriz Chu Clewell is a principal research associate and director of the Program for Evaluation and Equity Research at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. During her 25-year professional career, she has conducted research on factors that influence positive educational outcomes for girls and women, minority students, limited English proficient and immigrant students, and low-income students. She is a coauthor of the book Breaking the Barriers: Helping Female and Minority Students Succeed in Mathematics and Science, as well as several book chapters and journal articles.A recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association, Dr. Clewell was born and raised in the Republic of Panama. She has taught at both the middle school and university levels in Honduras and Venezuela and credits her middleschool teaching experiences with inspiring in her a lifelong interest in the education of low-income children. She holds a B.A. in English literature and an M.S. and Ph.D. in educational policy, planning, and analysis from Florida State University.Patricia B. Campbell is president of Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc., in Groton, Massachusetts. Dr. Campbell has been involved in educational research and evaluation with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and issues of race/ethnicity, gender, and disability since the mid-1970s. A former professor of research, measurement, and statistics at Georgia State University, she has written more than 100 publications, including cowriting The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls. Her varied professional activities include conducting educational evaluation and research training in South Africa and Uganda and serving as an expert witness in the sex discrimination case brought against the Citadel.Dr. Campbell received the Betty Vetter Research Award from Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network and the Willystine Goodsell Award from the American Educational Research Association. She holds a B.S. in mathematics from LeMoyne College, an M.S. in instructional technology from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in teacher education, also from Syracuse University.