| Citation: | Wang, M. C., Oates, J., & Weishew, N. L. (1995). Effective school responses to student diversity in inner-city schools: A coordinated approach. Education and Urban Society, 27(4), 484-503. EJ511143. |
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This paper describes the preliminary findings from initial implementation of the Community for Learning Program (CFL) in two inner-city elementary schools and one middle school, presented as three case scenarios. The CFL program is based on research from the National Center on Education in the Inner Cities (CEIC) about what works to increase the capacity for education in the nationÕs inner-city schools. It is designed as a broad-based, school-family-community-linked, coordinated approach to improving student learning, based on the premise that students who are struggling in their academic programs or in their social behavior, as well as others who are not, need instruction that is adapted to their individual needs. The CFL model has three major components: a) school development, which assists schools in establishing a planning and management team and a mental health team, b) the family-community for learning, designed to utilize the resources of families and the community to support student learning, and c) the Adaptive Learning Environments Model (Wang, 1993), an instructional delivery system designed with an inclusive approach for meeting the diverse needs of the individual students in regular classroom settings, including special education, Title I, and bilingual students. Initial findings revealed a positive impact on three major areas of student outcomes. In the first elementary school, mean scores for reading and math across three years showed a pattern of steady improvement when compared with two similar schools not participating in the program. After only one year of program implementation in the second elementary school, students participating in the program outperformed non-program students within the same school on both reading and math. After two years of program implementation in the middle school, the mean reading and math scores of students in the program were found to be slightly higher (although not statistically significantly higher) than the mean scores of the students not in the program in the same school. Students in all three schools had more positive perceptions about their learning environments, such as better and more constructive feedback from teachers about their work and behaviors, a higher level of aspiration for academic learning, better academic self-concept, and clearer rules for behaviors and class/school operations. The initial implementation process of CFL also showed that it was feasible to implement the kinds of structural changes required to achieve high standards of schooling for students in schools with varying demographics and resources, despite complex implementation problems and policy barriers. Data on studentsÕ perceptions about their classroom and school learning environments were collected using a survey designed by the researchers. Student achievement in reading and math was based on district-wide standardized test results. Although results should be considered preliminary in nature, the evaluation points toward broad-based coherent approaches that include family, school, and community resources as a strategy for accomplishing school improvement and improving student achievement.
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