Effective Learning Environments and the Use of Teaching Fellows in Alternative Urban Middle Schools

Fenzel, L. Mickey; Dean, Rebecca J.; Darden, Gerivonni

doi:10.1080/10824669.2014.924320

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…Several other studies asserted that all urban schools that serve a higher percentage of low-income students of color require different organizational responses to confront these organizational challenges than their within-sector, non-urban peers (Crea et al, 2015;Fenzel et al, 2014;Rodriguez & Briscoe, 2019;Smetana & Coleman, 2015). These studies intentionally investigated how particular urban Catholic schools serving these populations have responded to communities' needs by reforming particular aspects of the school's educational infrastructure: new programs to help prepare low-income students of color to attend college (Rodriguez & Briscoe, 2019), new models for parent engagement given the time and economic pressures faced by low-income families (Crea et al, 2015), new hiring policies to ensure students have enough academic support to close academic achievement gaps (Fenzel et al, 2014), and new cost-effective curricular infrastructure to ensure rigorous academic work can occur even when a school lacks financial resources (Smetana & Coleman, 2015). Yet each study found that these urban Catholic schools' organizational responses were determined by the particular needs of the communities served rather than the organizational priorities of their sector.…”

Section: Similarities In Organizational Challenges and Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining the Legacy of Urban Catholic Schooling in the U.S.: A Systematic Literature Review

et al. 2021

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Research conducted in the twentieth century found urban Catholic schools in the U.S. had a legacy of providing high quality educational opportunities for low-income students and students of color. In an era of declining Catholic school enrollments, urban Catholic school advocates have argued that urban Catholic school closures would deny these students one of the best educational opportunities available to them. However, there have been few attempts in recent years to synthesize research in, on, and about urban Catholic schools to see if the sector's historical legacy is still present. In this article, we systematically reviewed 80 recently published empirical research studies focused at some level on the effects, operations, and reforms currently present in urban Catholic education. We found that while positive effects of urban Catholic schools on student outcomes can still be identified, these effects are not consistently present in all urban Catholic schools and there is little evidence to suggest that the sector as a whole has enacted the social justice mission for which it is best known. In light of these findings, we conclude our review with suggestions for future research that connects urban Catholic schooling to contemporary issues present across all U.S. urban education.

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