Urban education resources for educators

The Center for Urban Education Success provides information and resources for educators to address the most pressing issues in urban education settings. The work that CUES has undertaken through the University of Rochester’s partnership with East High School in Rochester, NY, has provided a strong foundation for other urban school to build upon.

Open sourced, culturally responsive-sustaining curriculum

Guided by theories of Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education (Paris & Alim, 2014), Understanding by Design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005), and learning standards (New York State Education Department, 2017), CUES’s Equitable Curriculum resources give teachers and curriculum designers the tools to create and implement learning experiences that are rigorous and inclusive of all students.

Attendance

Absenteeism is a persistent problem, particularly acute in urban school settings. According to the U.S. Department of Education, six million students (one out of seven) are missing at least 15 days during the school year, increasing their likelihood for lower achievement and dropping out. With a combination of research literature reviews, visits to urban schools that have demonstrated success at attendance, practitioner briefs, and articles in professional publications, CUES provides resources to schools that aim to improve attendance.

Bullying

Bullying, which involves an intention to do harm, repetition and a power imbalance between bully and victim, has become a public health concern not only in the U.S. but worldwide. CUES resources provide educational tools and information for schools to tackle the harmful effects of bullying.

Restorative practices

Restorative practices, an alternative discipline approach focused on repair rather than punishment, has attracted the attention of school districts throughout the United States. As mounting evidence demonstrates the long-standing system of punitive discipline to be not only ineffective in reducing behavioral incidents but to be detrimental to young people, particularly those of color, districts are increasingly turning to the research-supported practice of restorative justice. Despite challenges in teacher and staff buy-in, capacity building, and reshaping culture to accommodate a shift to restorative practices, schools adopting this approach have already demonstrated positive results.

Distributed leadership

Leading comprehensive school reform is a challenge on a good day. CUES researchers know from research that educational leadership needs to be grounded in activity rather than focused on individuals. At CUES and the East-EPO, researchers and staff rely on a research-supported understanding of leadership as applied broadly across a school’s faculty and staff, rather than focusing narrowly on the actions of a singular person or subset of people who hold designated, administrative roles.

 

For assistance with CUES resources, or to share complimentary works on these topical areas, contact us.