The increasing impact of performance based judgments on schools and teachers in the classroom has its critics and supporters. Some oppose the trend and seek to deny the importance of quantitative measures. Others have sought to find ways of implementing educational measurement constructively and with understanding of the concerns. Classrooms are where the operational business of learning takes place and it is on the quality of life within the classroom that the broader process of learning, concerns for the wider community and others, is nurtured. The climate of the classroom has a large impact on the final outcome measure to which so much interest is directed. To help our understanding of the dynamics involved much work has been done in the development and refinement of quantitative studies to this area by studying essential information about how teachers and students perceive the environments in which the work. Research on classroom climates has reached a practical and theoretical maturity and this volume offers an account of the developments that have taken place and the potential for understanding the classroom as a vital component of the curriculum. This book will also be an essential resource tool for anyone engaged in classroom research.

Working mothers, broken homes, poverty, racial or ethnic background, poorly educated parents—these are the usual reasons given for the academic problems of poor urban children. Reginald M. Clark contends, however, that such structural characteristics of families neither predict nor explain the wide variation in academic achievement among children. He emphasizes instead the total family life, stating that the most important indicators of academic potential are embedded in family culture. To support his contentions, Clark offers ten intimate portraits of Black families in Chicago. Visiting the homes of poor one- and two-parent families of high and low achievers, Clark made detailed observations on the quality of home life, noting how family habits and interactions affect school success and what characteristics of family life provide children with "school survival skills," a complex of behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge that are the essential elements in academic success. Clark's conclusions lead to exciting implications for educational policy. If school achievement is not dependent on family structure or income, parents can learn to inculcate school survival skills in their children. Clark offers specific suggestions and strategies for use by teachers, parents, school administrators, and social service policy makers, but his work will also find an audience in urban anthropology, family studies, and Black studies.