Full Description
Urban Schools: Crisis and Revolution describes America's inner-city public schools and the failure of most to provide even a minimally adequate education for their students. With numerous examples, James Deneen and Carm Catanese argue that these failures are preventable. Early chapters document the two-tiered character of American public schools, the tragic consequences of failing schools for millions of students—mostly Black and Hispanic—and the financial costs to American society. In later chapters, Deneen and Catanese describe the special problems of inner-city schools and the changes in school organization and curriculum needed to overcome them. They also provide examples of schools in severely disadvantaged communities in which such changes have enabled students to succeed academically, graduate, and enter college. In the final chapters, the authors examine the public and non-public school options available to urban parents. They discuss school choice, a hotly debated issue in urban education. The book concludes with a plan, consisting of six recommendations, for reforming a failing urban school.
Contents
Section I: What's the Problem?
Chapter 1: Two Schools in Two Tiers
Chapter 2: Schools and Society
Chapter 3: Schools and the State
Chapter 4: Urban Schools across America
Chapter 5: America Compared with the World
Chapter 6: Barriers to Change
Section II: Basic Factors in School Renewal
Chapter 7: Does Poverty Mean Failure?
Chapter 8: Essentials in Successful Schools
Chapter 9: Leadership and Responsibilities
Section III: Reforming Failing Schools
Chapter 10: Restructuring
Chapter 11: Teachers and Parents
Chapter 12: Language and Extended Instruction
Section IV: School Choice
Chapter 13: Public School Choices
Chapter 14: Non-Public School Choices
Conclusion: A Plan for Reforming a Failing School
