Advances in Educational Administration, Volume 6. Challenges of Urban Education and Efficacy of School Reform

Citation

Normore, A.H. (2005), "Advances in Educational Administration, Volume 6. Challenges of Urban Education and Efficacy of School Reform", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 232-235. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230510586623

In their book, Challenges of Urban Education and Efficacy of School Reform, Hunter and Brown have compiled a new volume of compelling works from various scholars in the field of urban education. The contributors embrace and discuss numerous problems and issues faced by schools in urban settings. Armed with an air of optimism for resources for support of deprived minority children, this volume (6) addresses:

1. 1.

   problems effecting urban schools and their students, and

2. 2.

   some of the efforts that have been developed to make urban schools more accountable and effective.

Furthermore, this particular volume informs constituents of urban education that “with appropriate innovation and change, urban schools will continue to serve as the most essential institution in the dissemination of education and assimilation of peoples in forming a nation of vitality, energy, and virtue” (p. xx). Upon completion of this well‐researched volume, one is left with the general message that urban schools will continue to serve as a catalyst for encouraging social stability, a healthy economy, and a relatively effective democratic society.

The timeliness of this book could not be more appropriate considering the basic education principles in the No Child Left Behind Act and the 50th anniversary of Brown v Board of Education (May 17, 1954) where the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court took scientific research into account in issuing this landmark ruling in school desegregation cases that changed American history.

The format of the book is clear and easy to follow. The book is organized into three parts. Part I comprises six chapters. Each chapter, prefaced with an abstract, deals with separate issues that face urban school districts, their students and the communities which they serve. This section of the book addresses issues ranging from race, ethnicity, language, and culture of diverse populations to urban economics and financial factors that affect education. In Chapter 1, A. Reynaldo Contreras discusses ways diversity issues influence modern school reform efforts by highlighting what schools and communities may need to consider for encouraging community conversations as an educational reform mechanism for addressing contemporary issues (p. 16). Ji‐Yeon O. Jo and Xue Lan Rong present a historical analysis in Chapter 2 of how immigration, education, and legal issues related to language have affected the schooling of Asian Americans. The underlying message in this chapter is that “schools should not treat immigrant students and their communities as passive learners and service receivers … that they should encourage immigrant children to become active and critical components in their own learning and to become their own agents of change” (p. 44). In Chapter 3, Charles Russo provides a comprehensive update on school desegregation and litigation with particular focus on four Supreme Court cases in the 1990s. In Chapter 4, Frank Brown explores the impact of returning to neighborhood schools after a failure of the federal courts to implement the 1954 Brown decision that called for the abolishment of segregation of public schools. Current solutions to faltering education for most minority students are suggested such as a call for the “reconstitution of failing public schools” (p. 67). Chapter 5, presented by Richard Hunter and Saran Donahoo, examines how tracking, gifted education, special education, and compensatory education programs have contributed to the lack of success and limited educational possibilities of many poor and minority students despite ardent efforts and good intentions of such educational programs. In the final chapter of Part I, Steven Lawton highlights how changes in America's urban economies and demographics have impacted the roles of local, state, and federal governments in school funding.

Part II examines the impact that demands for increased accountability and equity have on urban education reform. This section consists of seven chapters. Chapter 7 is armed with research that supports broad‐based assumptions on various social, political, legal, and cultural structures that influence tracking. Paul Green discusses a myriad of elements that indicate inequality is caused by tracking which has lead to an increased failure rate of many students… “that the fault lies not with the cultural or genetic deficit of students but with the educational structures in our schools” (p. 140). Philip Daniel, in Chapter 8, presents a discussion on the digital divide in public schools. Daniel asserts that there are stark differences in technology training and computer accessibility in communities based on race, other demographics, and disability status of students. Further discussion lead to issues that contribute to this divide including teacher training and teacher attitudes, especially where “students of color or special needs comprise a huge percentage of the school population and the liability of district personnel who fail to provide equal opportunity and access to all students” (p. 145). Stephen Lucas introduces professional development issues in Chapter 9. Lucas addresses issues including the leadership function of instructional supervision through organizational improvement, teacher development, and student growth, and achievement. A two‐dimensional framework for analyzing professional development is presented in the form of four quadrants to help supervisors with the implementation of the various stages of professional development (i.e. needs assessment, planning, delivery, implementation, evaluation). Chapter 10 presents the importance of innovative leadership at all levels of education including universities and colleges. Leonard Valverde offers several paradigms for educational leaders to help boost the success rates of students of color that focus on:

1. 1.

   pedagogy,

2. 2.

   knowing student populations,

3. 3.

   addressing and serving community needs, and

4. 4.

   creating partnerships.

The underlying message in this chapter is that all educational leaders “must be committed equally to diversity and cultural pluralism as they are to urban education improvement” (p. 198). Chapter 11 considers the political, economic, and social climate of urban school settings. James Ward explores adequate funding issues for urban schools since 1970 and offers several policy initiatives that balance urban school finance equity and urban school finance adequacy. Chapter 12 discusses the influence that race and discrimination have on achievement in schools and offers a list of strategies for closing the gap of what they refer to as “institutionalized racism” (p. 218). Dawn Williams and Laurence Parker maintain: “Although urban schools receive millions of dollars to correct disparities, the standardized test scores for African American and Latino students remain much lower than those of white students” (p. 207). Arthur Lehr considers two perspectives on the controversial subject of detracking in Chapter 13. These perspectives include:

1. 1.

   advocates are in favor of its instructional organization for student learning, while

2. 2.

   adversaries argue that it capitalizes on educational inequality by denying low‐income and minority students' access to quality schooling (p. 233).

Both perspectives are presented and critiqued as a catalyst to broaden understanding of the debate.

Part III contains five chapters focused on strategies developed to reform and improve urban school systems. Chapter 14, presented by Terri Mozingo, explains how work teams derived from a business model can provide insights into redesigning structures that support working in isolation in high schools. The argument focuses on the one obvious similarity between schools and business organizations – that they are organized around people where work teams can improve not only the system, but also the lives of those who work in them. Frank Brown presents Chapter 15 by addressing strategies used to educate African Americans focusing on the future of education in neighborhood schools. The author asserts that “educational survival of marginalized minority students will depend upon how they manage politics of education including school choice plans supported by the hegemonic majority” (p. 278). Chapter 16, presented by Frank Brown and Saran Donahoo, provides a critical analysis of how school takeovers have been organized in the past to reform low‐performing schools and improve test scores of all students. The outcomes of state takeovers are discussed in detail with focus on three different states: West Virginia, New Jersey, and California. In Chapter 17, Linda Tillman investigates the role of school site administrators in facilitating parental involvement of African American parents in the context of urban school reform. Tillman offers suggestions for school leaders that represent a range of possibilities for increasing the levels of African American parental involvement in urban schools. In the final chapter, James Lyons presents reform strategies that have been employed in American schools for improved teaching and learning. Lyons provides a comprehensive overview of school‐based management, small school initiatives, and reconstitution of failing schools by presenting examples of schools where these initiatives have been widely implemented.

There are implications for education as a result of this volume. Challenges of Urban Education and Efficacy of School Reform offers a cutting‐edge look at crucial urban education issues. For urban schooling, the book implies a collective expertise that assures various constituents of education are actively engaged in challenging, relevant, and interesting learning situations – situations that connect past and present experiences and engage them in constructing new and compelling experiences. The book is one of the most highly valuable and recommended volume of its time, often presented insightfully and rigorously by contributors who have much experience in the field of urban education as practitioners and researchers. It is especially recommended by this reviewer as a comprehensive resource for school‐based and district personnel who want to engage in successful recruitment and selection strategies for effectively serving diverse populations in urban schools. It is equally recommended as a viable resource for university and college professoriate especially among those involved in teacher and school leadership preparation programs. Anyone who believes that the often dismal performance of many disadvantaged students is inevitable should confront the research findings, leadership strategies, and education policies discussed in this book.