Deficient urban schooling remains one of America's most pressing--and stubborn--public policy problems. This important new book details and evaluates a radical and promising new approach to K-12 education reform. "Strife and Progress" explains for a broad audience the "portfolio strategy" for providing urban education--its…

When charter schools first emerged nearly two decades ago, critics claimed they would promote segregation by serving privileged white students whose families take advantage of choice. But state laws, philanthropists, and charter school founders targeted these new schools to serve disadvantaged students in urban districts. Critics then tried to…

Big-city school systems face many problems, including high dropout rates, low academic achievement, and achievement gaps between middle-class and low-income children. Many big-city systems are also losing enrollment and facing financial deficits. These problems inevitably lead to criticism of the boards that govern urban school districts, and…

The search continues for effective ways to educate disadvantaged children in big cities. Different cities have tried varied approaches--intensive work on the professional skills of teachers and administrators in Boston, standardized approaches to instruction in San Diego, and extensive use of vouchers and chartering in Washington, D.C., and…

Discusses public school governance and management under decentralization and explores whether decentralization can lead to school improvement. It further examines the types of external support and oversight that public schools need under decentralization, such as the functions of school boards, central offices, and teachers unions. Finally, it…

Aside from promoting school choice and easing regulatory restraints, the federal government's role seems limited to continuing Chapter 1 and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. "First Generation" federal programs are a poor match for the problems afflicting urban schools. A new federal strategy is needed to stimulate local planning and…

Argues that "A Nation at Risk" failed to address adequately problems of urban education, and thus the achievement gap between minority and white students still exists. Describes several problems that still plague low-performing urban schools, such as bureaucratic aversion to change, high levels of poverty, and low teacher quality and…

Though the public believes that urban school boards should handle problems with failing schools, urban school boards spend very little time considering ways to turn such schools around or transforming the educational experiences of at-risk students. Today's school board members are expected to be interest representatives, trustees for children,…

Written as a practical guide for mayors, civic leaders, and school board members, this book describes the politics of reform in urban school systems and clarifies options available to community leaders seeking to improve school performance. Drawing lessons from six U.S. cities that have made concerted efforts to improve their schools, the volume…

Although only a few dozen school systems have formally embraced site-based management, thousands of districts across the country are experimenting with it in some form. The study described in this report attempts to distill the experience of pioneering school systems, so that citizens and educators in other localities can benefit from it. During…

Describes the planning, leadership, and organizational strategies that formed the basis for the Houston School District's efforts to implement standards-based reform. Identifies some reform initiatives that need to be expanded, such as new uses of online instruction and new approaches to the recruitment and training of teachers. (PKP)

This study compares zoned high schools, special public magnet schools, and Catholic high schools to identify features that motivate low-income students. Ten days of observations, interviews, and reviews of student records were conducted at eight New York City schools. Of the eight, three were Catholic high schools, two were zoned high schools, and…

Evidence collected through comparison of compensatory education students' calendar year and school year gains implies that summer drop-off of basic skills is a common phenomenon. There are two possible interpretations of this finding. The first, "forgetting," assumes compensatory education students know less in the fall than they did the previous…

In this essay, the author calls attention to a little-studied but critical aspect of school system reform: the nontransparent and sometimes illogical ways school districts allocate funds and personnel, especially teachers. Drawing on a series of studies produced by his Center for Reinventing Public Education, the author asserts that mayors who…

In many big cities, noneducators are being asked to create rescue strategies for the public schools. In Cleveland (Ohio) and Chicago (Illinois), mayors have taken over the school systems, and in the District of Columbia and Baltimore (Maryland), reform boards have been asked to improve the schools. This book is designed to help these noneducators…