"The Opportunity Gap" aims to shift attention from the current overwhelming emphasis on schools in discussions of the achievement gap to more fundamental questions about social and educational opportunity. The achievement gap looms large in the current era of high-stakes testing and accountability. Yet questions persist: Has the…

This paper reports on an ethnographic exploration of the teaching style and methods of a junior high physical education instructor serving predominantly African American students in an economically disadvantaged Chicago, Illinois neighborhood. Prior to her reassignment, the instructor in question was exceptionally popular among students, despite a…

Seven essays address aspects of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction for children, seen from a variety of perspectives: research, teaching, and ethnography. They include: "Introduction: Children and ESL" (D. Scott Enright, Pat Rigg); "ESL Teachers as Language Advocates for Children" (Courtney Cazden); "ESL Children's Writing: What We've…

This book aims to provide a better understanding of Mexican American high school students and their struggles with ethnicity, Americanization, prejudice, schools, and life's purposes. In most Anglo minds, these students are characterized by exceptionally high dropout rates and poor school performance, without any explanation for this performance…

Findings of a study that explored parents' views of education and their evaluations of their school's success are presented in this paper. The parents represented families involved in a Follow Through program, a federally sponsored education program that serves low-income children in kindergarten and the primary grades who had been enrolled in…

This book consists of a set of studies and essays that represent the best work being done in the area of qualitative research in early childhood settings (children from birth to about age 8). Research in this area involves studies of young children in educational contexts, day care, and preschool settings. The Introduction, "Qualitative…

The conceptualization of working-class Latino students' households as being rich in funds of knowledge has engendered transformative consequences for teachers, parents, students, and researchers. The qualitative study of their own students' households by teachers is a viable method for bridging the gap between school and community. An assumption…

This book reports an ethnographic study, conducted over 2 years, of 30 teachers from 18 schools (preschool through high school), who participated in a staff development program in multicultural education. Observations and interviews indicate how multicultural education was actually presented to the teachers, and how their perceptions and teaching…

An ethnographic study examined how learning English and becoming more literate in the dominant discourse affects the identity or self-concept of Vietnamese immigrant students, and how new discourse may be created as students negotiate multiple literacies. It was conducted in a Seattle area high school and focused on 22 Vietnamese students in an…

This paper presents an ethnographic study of the Oyster Bilingual School in Washington, D.C., a successful two-way Spanish-English bilingual elementary school designed to produce biliterate and bicultural students. The study was based on classroom observations, interviews of students, teachers, and administrators, and an examination of school…

The educational potential accessible with the aid of international communications networks and computer-mediated communication was explored with Finnish secondary school students in an ethnographic study that also investigated gender differences and quality of education. Subjects were 108 students (46 males and 62 females) from six classes in…

Cooperative learning, as it was constructed in three seventh-grade classrooms in a multi-ethnic middle school, was examined as part of a dissertation study that focused on cooperative learning as embedded in its sociocultural context. Data were gathered using ethnographic methods, including participant and nonparticipant observations, document…

This case study presents findings from a year-long ethnographic study of an urban junior high school principal. It concludes one of seven studies conducted in elementary and intermediate schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings to investigate the instructional management role of principals. Although previous research offers disparate…

This case study presents findings from a year-long ethnographic study of a suburban elementary school principal. It concludes one of seven studies conducted in elementary and intermediate schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings to investigate the instructional management role of principals. Although previous research offers disparate…

This fourth volume of a six-volume study of a school district code-named "Milford" provides an ethnographic account of Kensington School today. Tracing the school's development through the 1979-80 school year, the study's central metaphor is of a ship on a perilous journey. Chapter 1 describes the school's opening day and "Crosscurrents in…