Welcome to the National Institute for Urban School Improvement

Welcome to the Web site of the National Institute for Urban School Improvement (NIUSI). We hope this site will help you deepen your understanding of the complexities that urban families and their children face as they strive for access to high quality, results-oriented education. There is no question that urban public schools are the nexus for negotiating the complexities of ability, ethnicity, language, privilege, power, and class that bubble, barely under the surface, of commerce, lifestyle, and community in the United States.

NIUSI hopes that its advocacy for inclusive schools (good for kids, families, and communities) engages professionals and laypeople alike in understanding the multifaceted cultures and histories that children and their families bring to the educational process.

Check the spotlight section for more important announcements.

The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) is committed to positive results for children with disabilities. NIUSI is an IDEAs that Work project and a project of the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center.