Problems in America's Inner-City Schools
America's inner-city schools are facing a variety of academic performance/achievement problems. Glazier (1993) states that the problems are so pervasive that inner city schools can be said to be plagued with difficulties; these include huge central bureaucracies; dumbed-down, irrelevant curricula; scant resources to provide well-compensated teachers, supplies, smaller classes, and social workers; and de facto segregation.
The scope and tenacity of these problems can best be seen in Kozol's (1992) remarks after evaluating 30 inner-city schools in New York City, Chicago, San Antonio, Ohio, and New Jersey. Specifically, the acclaimed author of "Death at an Early Age" concluded that public schools remained more separate and unequal than they were 27 years ago.
The result of these problems is massive academic failure. McPhail (1992), for example, states that reading failure in these schools is a critical contemporary sociopolitical problem. Instead of educating students, today's inner city schools are little more than holding pens for least prepared of all public school students, the result of which is that most become dropouts.
Improving School Climate As a Means of Remediating Academic Performance Problems of Inner-City Schools
A variety of school efforts, activities, strategies, and reforms have been proposed to help inner city students overcome their academic/achievement problems. One of these is to improve the school climate. In this regard, Kowalski and Reitzug (1993) have stated that a positive school climate consists of a school environment where effective teaching and learning occur.
Climate, in general, is defined by Kowalski and Reitzug (1993) as a comprehensive structure made up of culture, physical plant, organizational structure, social relationships and individual behaviors. Thus, the climate of a school is not static but subject to change in association ...