The need for sophisticated and highly skilled educators in urban schools is painfully obvious, even to the most casual observer. National and local test data demonstrate that students in urban schools are generally not achieving at the same levels as are their suburban and more affluent peers. Teacher educators in urban areas struggle with how to…

The literature is sated with calls for more and better communication between home and school. Teachers believe that parents should be more involved, but seem at a loss as to how to make that happen, and parents often feel disconnected to their child's teacher and the school. Few would argue that it is the responsibility of classroom teachers to…