Includes bibliographical references (pages 129-133) and index
1. The reform context : Students as useful windows through which to view reform ; Overview of the study and Its participants ; The student sample and interview strategy ; The school sites ; Other considerations in reading this book -- 2. Changes in students' school lives over three years : Changes in plans for the future -- Changes in the schools ; More and/or harder work ; Different student behavior ; Small learning communities ; Changes in classroom experiences ; Multiple or long-term replacement teachers ; Disruptive classrooms ; "Support scarce" classrooms ; A need to scale up within schools -- 3. Pedagogical, content, and classroom environment differences within and across five schools : Pedagogical differences: the case of science ; Content differences: the case of English ; Classroom environment differences: two examples ; School #1: Two teachers on the same team ; School #4: A comparison between students' initial teacher and a replacement ; Students focused on instructional, rather than personal, style -- 4. The teachers students wanted : Three teachers students praised ; Qualities students wanted their teachers to have ; Valued teachers pushed students to complete their assignments ; Valued teachers maintained order in the classroom ; Valued teachers were willing to help ; Valued teachers went to great lengths to explain a topic until everyone understood it ; Valued teachers varied classroom activities ; Valued teachers respected students, related to them, and tried to understand their worlds ; Behind the actions: the student-teacher relationship
5. Spreading the pockets of success : a brief description of school #6 ; Students' aspirations and teachers' preferences ; Pedagogical differences: the case of science ; Content differences: the case of writing and English ; A note on mathematics ; Classroom environment differences ; Evidence of school effects ; Students' perspectives on school #6 ; Student performance data ; Student comparisons of school #6 with the other study schools ; Student talk and school differences -- 6. Students and reform : Making reform noticeable ; Focus professional development on adults' underlying beliefs about a school's role in supporting student learning rather than discrete "best practices" ; Emphasize the quality of the relationships between teachers and students ; Changes in student performance standards must be accompanied by the creation of standards for pedagogy, content, and classroom environment, and the professional development necessary to implement them ; Connect changes in standards to grades, not just to performance on large-scale assessments ; Create "extra help" situations that encompass all students who need it, not just those students who avail themselves of it ; Extend extra help beyond school work to how to succeed in the future ; Reforming with, not for, students -- Appendix : Student interview protocols
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"According to the many student voices in this book, urban middle school students want teachers who "stay on them" to complete their work, maintain orderly classrooms, give them the extra help they need to succeed, explain their work clearly, draw on a variety of teaching strategies, and make their work relevant and meaningful. This book, rich in detail, brings these inner-city students' perspectives to life and issues a compelling call for urban school reform that actually touches students' daily lives."--Jacket
Education, Urban-- Pennsylvania-- Philadelphia, Case studies
Educational change-- Pennsylvania-- Philadelphia
Middle school students-- Pennsylvania-- Philadelphia, Interviews