Editor's Introduction
Sam Stringfield

Nobel laureate William Faulkner defined intelligence as, "The ability to accept environment, yet still retain something of personal liberty" (Faulkner, 1962, p. 823). Our times, like all times, require the exercise of just such a gift. Within this issue of JESPAR, the authors highlight the ability to accept school environments that are not what we would hope them to be, yet hold on to the liberty of possible reform. The articles in this issue provide equal measure of both the frustration and hope involved in working to improve schools serving disadvantaged children.

Sorca O’Connor’s opening case study presents the viewpoint of parents and teachers in an urban school serving poor children. Carol Ascher and Norm Fruchter’s opening research article offers stark and aggravating evidence from New York that even within a single city, those children living in more affluent communities tend to receive more of education’s scarce resources.

Madelon Zady and Pedro Portes flesh out the picture of poor urban schools with data from parents who attempt to assist their children in solving science problems. Juanita and Walter Epp, our Canadian colleagues, point out that educational policies often facilitate students’ decisions to drop out of school.

As frustrating as that collection of data may seem, H. Jerome Freiberg’s early data on the success of the Consistency Management program holds that much hope. While not presented in this issue, subsequent data in larger numbers of schools provide reason to believe that Consistency Management is becoming a strong and valid addition to the field of reforms that assist educators in helping children achieve in high poverty contexts. Hope lives.

The issue’s research section concludes with Maureen Drysdale’s analysis of the effects of cognitive learning styles on the academic performance both of at risk and more successful first year college students. Clearly, steps can be taken to make any student less at risk.

Hope also lives in several of the books reviewed in this issue. Jenny Edwards, in her review of The International Handbook of School Effectiveness, describes a remarkable summary of over 1400 books and articles, the great majority of which are focused on issues facing high-poverty schools. She finds the volume "well worth reading from cover to cover and keeping as a reference." Similarly, Elizabeth Kemper finds Improving Schools: Performance and Potential a worthy volume of both scholarly analyses and clear case studies. The school effects and school improvement literatures are maturing, and disadvantaged children will be among the beneficiaries.

Increased differentiation is one sign of maturation in any field. Thus, Henig, Hula, Orr, and Pedesclaux (1999) present further evidence of this maturation in The Color of School Reform: Race, Politics and the Challenges of Urban Education. In her review of the book, however, Kitty Kelly Epstein notes the limited depth of analysis presented in this otherwise worthy volume. Karlen picks up at precisely this point in her excellent review of We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers, Multicultural Schools. This volume (and Karlen’s review) makes no bones about the historical and current costs of racism, yet asserts a positive role for all teachers, regardless of color.

If there is one constant in "Business 101" courses throughout America, it is that "you get what you measure." Education generally and "systemic reform" advocates in particular have taken this adage to heart. We must find and promote more humane ways of measuring students’ progress, as Irene McHenry emphasizes in her excellent review of Assessing Student Learning: From Grading to Understanding, and its companion volume Looking Together at Student Work: A Companion Guide to Assessing Student Learning.

The scholarship in this issue ends in a kind of tough love, with Barak Rosenshine’s review of Jeanne Chall’s (2000) last volume: The Academic Achievement Challenge: What Really Works in the Classroom. Prior to her death in November 1999, Dr. Chall was one of the nation’s foremost advocates for sensible, research-based teaching of beginning reading. While conceding that actively unscientific, "romantic" views of teaching have dominated the history of American educational thought, Chall provided a straightforward review of the current status of research and practice in our classrooms. Rosenshine reflects on Chall’s major career orientations with fully appropriate grace and scholarly respect.

This issues marks a period of transition in the development of JESPAR. Two extraordinarily important members of our team are moving on to new challenges. Dr. Amanda Datnow arrived at Johns Hopkins just as JESPAR was getting under way. We had no idea how to organize incoming manuscripts; Dr. Datnow implemented a system. We had not established methods for keeping in contact with authors; Dr. Datnow established one—and so on, for the past five years, whenever we’ve needed to make a policy decision or identify a highly skilled reviewer, she has stepped forward with a sensible, workable solution. Still early in her career, Dr. Datnow has accepted a position at the University of Toronto. In light of new pressures and obligations, she is stepping down from a position she both created and perfected at JESPAR.

Ms. Tiffany Meyers has worked for two years as JESPAR’s assistant editor. Bringing intelligence, discipline, and dedication to the position, Ms. Meyers provided a sympathetic ear to authors, a firm reminder to overdue reviewers, and an invaluable drive for correctness to JESPAR and all her tasks at Johns Hopkins. All of this was accomplished with a quick laugh, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Ms. Meyers was in constant, productive motion. Best of luck in New York City, Ms. Meyers!

"Replacing" either Ms. Meyers or Dr. Datnow in any literal sense would be impossible. However, JESPAR has been blessed by the arrival of three hard working new people. Sarah Heneghan has joined JESPAR as our new assistant editor. In that capacity, Sarah is already providing all the day-to-day organizational and editorial skills any quality journal requires.

Dr. Janet Thomas has joined JESPAR as an associate editor. Dr. Thomas recently completed her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, and is engaged in several mixed-methods studies of efforts to improve schools serving disadvantaged children.

Dr. Shelly Brown has also joined us, as our second new associate editor. Dr. Brown comes to us from the University of Michigan and, in addition to her work on JESPAR, will focus her considerable energy on a series of secondary analyses of large, national data sets.

Just as the intellectual content of this issue brings both frustration and hope, so the human side behind the pages brings very sad goodbyes and warm hellos. Looking forward, we must all bring our intelligence and talent to bear on the hope that there will be "something of personal liberty" for our next generation of young people.

Reference

Faulkner, W. (1962). The Reivers. New York: Random House.