Faculty: James H. Lytle

Discipline/Subject Area: Urban Studies
School: University of Pennsylvania
Project Area:

Spring 1998

Overview

Through reflection on one's own schooling experiences; a field experience in urban schools; an examination of issues, concepts and characteristics of urban public school systems and urban teaching; consideration of student reactions to schooling and their lives outside of school; and consideration of the relationships between race, gender and schooling; this course will address the questions: "whether urban students are provided appropriate and/or effective educations?" and "what would equal opportunity require?"

Required Reading

* A bulk pack containing most of the reading can be purchased at Campus Copy Center, 39th and Walnut Streets. All articles listed below are expected to have been read PRIOR to the class meeting for which they are listed.

At least one of the two books listed below; both are on reserve at Rosengarten and available at the Bookstore.
 

• Hacker, A. (1992). Two Nations: Black and white, separate, hostile, unequal. New York: Scribner.
• Wilson, W.J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf.

Course Requirements

A. A field service and study project - at least six half days at a West Philadelphia school [20%] B. Bi-weekly study group reports (see below) [40%] C. A mid-term exam (March 18) [20%] D. Class participation (which requires presence and reading of the week's assignments) E. A final paper (10+ pages on a topic developed during the course) [20%]

All written work should incorporate references to the readings.

Study group Reports [SGR]

[study groups will be formed the second week of class] * Due every two/three weeks (2/4, 2/18, 3/4, 4/8) * 6-8 pages typed, double-spaced, names of group members and date on cover sheet * make one copy for each study group member and one for the professor; you will receive written comments on each report, but the copy you submit will not be returned Report entries should contain the following:

1. reactions to class meetings

2. critical response to the readings

3. discussion of how the readings relate to one's personal experiences and expectations

4. questions

5. suggestions for future classes

[please number pages and use spellcheck before submitting your reports]

Field Study and Service Project -- working in an elementary, middle, or high school classroom a half day per week for at least six weeks. The project will be discussed and planned in class. Specific school sites and student placements will be arranged with help from the instructor.

Class Meeting Dates-and Topics

January 14 - organizational meeting (at McNeil 309)

1. INTRODUCTION - STUDENTS AND SCHOOL DISCONTINUITY (Jan. 21)

Farrell, E. et al. (1988). Giving voice to high school students: Pressure and boredom, ya know what I'm sayin'? American Educational Research Journal. Winter. Vol. 25, No. 4. pp. 489-502.

The Institute for Education in Transformation at The Claremont Graduate School. (1992). Voices from the inside: A report on schooling from inside the classroom.

Jackson, P. (1968). Life in classrooms. Chicago: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Motivational Educational Entertainment. (1992). Reaching the Hip Hop Generation. Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Phelan, P., Davidson, A.L., & Cao, H.T. (1992). Speaking up: Students' Perspectives on school. Phi Delta Kappan. (May). pp. 695-704.

2. LIVING IN THE INNER CITY (Jan. 28)

Anderson, E. (1989). Moral leadership and transitions in the urban black community. Social class and democratic leadership: Essays in honor of E Digby Baltzell (ed.) Harold Bershady, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press: 7.pp. 123-146.

Anderson, E. (1994). The code of the streets. Atlantic Monthly. (May). pp. 81-94.

Bourgois, P. (1992). In search of Horatio Alger: Culture and ideology in the crack economy. EducationlUrban Studies 202, Vol. 1, University of Pennsylvania, 11, pp. 1-20.

Furstenberg, Jr., F.F. (1993) How families manage risk and opportunity in dangerous neighborhoods. from Sociology and the public agenda. (ed.) W.J. Wilson. Newbury Park, CA.

3. DEMOGRAPHICS AND THE URBAN CONDITION (Feb. 4, 11) SGR #1 due 2/4

Eitzen, D.S. (1992). Problem students: the sociocultural roots. Phi Delta Kappan. (April). pp. 584-590.

Greenhouse, S. (1991). The coming crisis of the American work force. New York Times. (J u n e 7):14.

Hacker, A. (1992). Two nations: Black and white, separate, hostile, unequal. New York: Scribner's. [on reserve at Rosengarten]

Kaufman, J.E. & Rosenbaum, J.E. (1992). The education and employment of low-income black youth in white suburbs. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. 14: 3 (Fall). pp. 229-240.

Omolade, B. (1994). The rising song of African American women. London: Rutledge.

Philadelphia Council for Children and Youth. (1995). The bottom line is ... children.

Reed, S. and Sautter, R.C. (1990). Children of poverty: The status of 12 million young Americans. Kappan Special Report. (June).

West, C. (1993). Nihilism and black America. in Race Matters. Boston: Beacon Press.

DeParle, J. (1992). Conversations/William Julius Wilson, Responding to urban alarm bells at scholarship's glacial pace. New York Times (July 19).

Wilson, W.J. (1987). The truly disadvantaged., The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago. [on reserve at Rosengarten]

Wilson, W.J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor. New York: Knopf.

4. RACE & SCHOOLING (Feb. 18, 25, Mar. 4) SGR #2 due Feb. 18: #3 due March 4

Fordham S. and Ogbu, J. (1986). Black students' school success: Coping with the burden of 'acting white'". The Urban Review, Vol. 18, No. 3.

Foster, M. (1990). The politics of race: Through African-American teachers' eyes. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting.

Gregory, L. W. (1995). The "turnaround process: Factors influencing the school success of urban youth. Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 10. No. 1. pp. 136-154.

Gregory, S.S. (1992). The hidden hurdle. Time. (March 16). pp. 44-45.

Haberman, M. (1997. Unemployment training: The ideology of nonwork inurban schools. Phi Delta Kappan. Vol. 78, No. 7. (March), pp. 499-505.

Lewis, A.C. (1992). A tale not widely told. Phi Delta Kappan, (Nov.). pp. 196-197.

Lytle, J.H. (1992). Prospects for reforming urban schools. Urban Education, Vol. 27, No. 2. (July). pp. 109-131.

McDougall, C. (1997). Welcome to badlands high school: Mission of Faith. Philadelphia Weekly. (Oct. 28).

Polite, V.C. (1992). All dressed up with no place to go: An ethnography of African American male students in an urban high school. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting.

Sleeter, C.E. (1993). How white teachers construct race. from (ed.) McCarthy, E. & Crichlou, W.. Race identity and representation in education. New York: Routledge.

Steele, C.M. (1992). Race and the schooling of black Americans. Atlantic Monthly. (April). pp. 68-78.

[SPRING BREAK MARCH 7-15; no class March 12]

MID-TERM EXAM MARCH 18

5. CULTURALLY RELEVANT SCHOOLING/AFRO-CENTRIC PEDAGOGY (Mar. 25, April 1]

Asante, M.K. (1991). The Afrocentric idea in education. Journal of Negro Education, Vol. 60, No. 2. Howard University. pp. 170-180.

Asante, M.K. (1992). Afrocentric curriculum. Educational Leadership. (January). pp. 28-31.

Ascher, C. (1992). School programs for African-American males ... and females. Phi Delta Kappan. (June). pp. 777-781.

Gilbert, S.E. 11 and Gay, G. (1985). Improving the success in school of poor black children. Phi Delta Kappan. (October). pp. 133-137.

Hilliard, A. Ill. (1991). Do we have the will to educate all children? Educational Leadership. (September). pp. 31-36.

Iverem, E. (1986). Ritual links Americans to African heritage. New York Times. (October 6).

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American *Educational Research Journal. Vol. 32, No. 3, pp.465-491.

Ogbu, J.U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. Educational Researcher. (Nov.) pp. 5-14, 24.

Olneck, M.R. (1993). Terms of inclusion: Has multiculturalism redefined equality in American education? American Journal of Education 101 (May, 1993). pp. 234-260.

Sleeter, C.E. (1992). Resisting racial awareness: How teachers understand the social order from their racial, gender, and social class locations. Educational Foundations. (Spring), pp. 7-32.

Trotter, A. (1991). Rites of passage. The Executive Educator. (September). pp. 48-49.

Williams, P.J. (1996). The hidden meanings of 'black English.' New York Times, (December 29).

Yarrow, A.L. (1991). Afrocentric Brooklyn school opens. New York Times. (October 6).

6. SCHOOL AND SCHOOL DISTRICT ORGANIZATION (April) SGR #4 due

(as it contributes to and impedes effective schooling)

Corwin, R.G. & Borman, K.M. (1988). School as workplace: Structural constraints on administration. In N.J. Boyan (Ed.), Handbook of research on educational administration. New York: Longman.

Hargreaves, D.H. (1997). A road to the learning society. School Leadership & Management, Vol. 17, #1. pp. 9-21.

Kerr, S.T. (1996). Visions of sugarplums: The future of technology, education, and the schools. In S.T. Kerr (Ed.), Technology and The Future of Schooling, NSSE, 95:2.

McNeil, L. M. (1988). Contradictions of control, part 1: Administrators and teachers. Phi Delta Kappan. (January), pp. 333-339.

Oakes, J. (1992). Can tracking research inform practice? Technical, normative, and political considerations. Educational Researcher. (May). pp. 12-21.

Pennsylvania Department of Education. questions and answers. (1996). Charter schools: Frequently asked

7. EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND SCHOOLING (Apr. 15, 22)

Beane, J.A. (1991). Sorting out the self-esteem controversy. Educational Leadership. (September). pp. 25-30.

Clune, W.H. (1993). The best path to systemic educational policy: Standard/centralized or differentiated/decentralized. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Vol. 15, No. 3. (Fall). pp. 233-254.

Comer, J. (1984). Home-school relationships as they affect the academic success of children. Education and Urban Society. Vol. 16, No. 3. (May). pp. 323-327.

David, J.L. (1991). Restructuring and technology: Partners in the computer age. Phi Delta Kappan. (September). pp. 37-40,78-82.

Gagnon, P. (1995). What should children learn? The Atlantic Monthly. (December), pp. 65-74.

Haberman, M. (1991). The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching. Phi Delta Kappan. (December). pp. 290-294.

Haberman, M. (1995). Selecting 'star' teachers for children and youth in urban poverty. Phi Delta Kappan. (June). pp. 777-781.

Howard, J. (1991). Getting smart: The social construction of intelligence. The Efficacy Institute, Inc. (March 27).

Kirst, M. W. (1992). Financing school-linked services. Center for Research in Education Finance. Los Angeles: University of Southern California.

Kretovics, J., Farber, K. and Armaline, W. (1991). Reform from the bottom up: Empowering teachers to transform schools. Phi Delta Kappan. (December). pp. 295-299.

Slavin, R. (1989). Success for all. CREMS Report. Johns Hopkins University. (February).

Sylvester, P. S. (1994). Elementary school curricula and urban transformation. Harvard Educational Review. Vol. 64, No. 3 (Fall). pp. 309-331.
 

April 27-29 - Reading Days

FINAL EXAM/PAPER - DUE NO LATER THAN 6:00 PM, WEDNESDAY, MAY 6
 

Additional reading

School Related

• James Comer and associates Rallying the Whole Village: The Comer Process for Reforming Education. (New York: Teachers College Press, 1996)
• Samuel Friedman Small Victories
• Tracy Kidder Among School Children
• Jonathan Kozol Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (Crown, 1991)
• Louis F. Miron The Social Construction of Urban Schooling. (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 1996)
• Mike Rose Lives on the Boundary a deeply personal account of an "at-risk" teen who becomes a superlative teacher of adult "losers"
• Emily Sacher Shut Up and Let the Lady Teach (Poseidon, 1991) A reporter's year teaching in a Brooklyn middle school

• Herbert Gans The War Against the Poor: The Underclass and Antipoverty Policy (New York: Basic Books, 1995)
• Andrew Hacker Two Nations: Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal (Scribner's: New York, 1992)
• Michael B. Katz The Undeserving Poor: from the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare (New York: Pantheon, 1989)
• Lisbeth Schorr Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage (New York: Anchor, 1988) A comprehensive discussion of linked social services.
• Cornel West Race Matters (Beacon: Boston, 1993)
• William Julius Williams The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1987)
• William Julius Wilson When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. (New York: Knopf, 1996)

• Phillippe Bourgois In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in the Barrio (Cambridge, 1995)
• Geoffrey Canada Fist Stick Knife Gun (Beacon, 1995)
• James Garbarino et al Children in Danger: Coping with the Consequences of Community Violence. (Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1992)
• Carl Husemoller On the Edge: A History of Poor Black Children and Their American Dreams (Basic Books: New York, 1993)
• Alex Kotlowitz There Are No Children Here (Anchor/Doubleday: New York, 1991) The story of two boys growing up in the projects of Chicago.
• Brent Staples Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White (Pantheon: New York, 1994)