The authors of this volume argue that urban education is in urgent
need of reform and that, although there have been plenty of
innovative and even promising attempts to improve conditions, most
have been doomed. The reason for this, they agree, lies in the
failure of our major cities to develop their "civic capacity"--the
ability to build and maintain a broad social and political
coalition across all sectors of the urban community in pursuit of a
common goal.
Drawing upon an ambitious eleven-city study funded by the
National Science Foundation, the authors synthesize and make sense
of the enormous amount of data from Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston,
Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San
Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Not only is this a vivid report
from the front lines of big city schooling, but this work
challenges us to rethink our approach to the crisis in our
schools.
The authors vigorously contend that it is essential for all (or
most) important actors in an urban community to join together in a
shared vision of what is wrong in the schools and how to fix it,
and to pursue that vision strongly and systematically over a long
time. That can only happen, however, if those same actors develop
the ability and willingness to set aside narrow aims and
opportunistic behavior in favor of pursuing the collective
good.
Written for a wide spectrum of potential readers--including
educators, social scientists, policymakers, and every citizen who
cares about his or her child's education--this book restores
coalition politics to the center of educational reform and reminds
us to look well beyond pedagogy and management theory for solutions
to problems that are immune to the usual remedies. Drawing on
select cases, the authors show that effective civic coalitions can
be built. The struggle for reform can be won.
General
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