No other city in the nation more clearly exemplifies the dramatically changing social, political, and economic landscape of America's urban centers than Houston. Houston has transformed from a bi-racial southern city on the bayou to one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse communities in the nation. Houston Independent School District…

The downward enrollment trend shown in this year's "AS&U" 100--a compilation of the nation's 100 largest school districts--is unmistakable. Added together, the 100 largest districts had 10,708,137 students in 2006-2007, compared with 10,763,959 in 2005-2006. Even districts that showed steady growth throughout the 1990s and the early…