In districts from Chicago to New York to Washington, DC, neighborhood public schools are being forced to compete with charter schools for students and resources, often under the threat of school closure. In "Compete or Close," Julia A. McWilliams provides a compelling ethnographic study of one such school, a neighborhood high school in…

"The Way We Do School: The Making of Oakland's Full-Service Community School District" offers an in-depth profile of the nation's most ambitious community school initiative. The book focuses on a nearly ten-year effort to transform all eighty-six district schools in Oakland, California into community schools in order to better meet the…

Informed by years of research and on-the-ground reporting, "Schools That Succeed" is Karin Chenoweth's most inspiring and compelling book yet--an essential read for educators who seek to break the stubborn connection between academic achievement and socioeconomic status. Chenoweth draws on her decade-long journey into neighborhood…

Given that one's place of residence plays a crucial role in accessing quality public services and facilities, unequal access to education has been a substantial problem besetting American education for decades. Various school policies since the economic recession of 2008-2009 have challenged equitable opportunities to schooling in metropolitan…

"How to Walk to School" is the story--from the highs to the lows--of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago's best, virtually overnight. The fate of public education is not beyond our control. In "How to…

"Grow Your Own Teachers" describes the evolution of a local school reform movement in Chicago that now serves as a model for change in schools and teacher preparation programs across the country. Grounded in the grassroots organizing tradition, the Grow Your Own (GYO) teacher initiative involves collaboration between community-based…

Sponsored by the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP), the second edition of this groundbreaking handbook assembles in one place the existing research-based knowledge in education finance and policy, with particular attention to elementary and secondary education. Chapters from the first edition have been fully updated and revised…

From 1996-2000, thirty minority teenagers (African American, Chinese American, Puerto Rican American, and Dominican American) were interviewed every year for four years to investigate how their experiences in high school shaped their social relationships. Contents of this book include: (1) Rethinking High School as a Relational Journey; (2)…

The interplay between sociopolitical forces and economic agendas becomes apparent when one examines the June 28, 2007 United States Supreme Court Decision, Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District . In a reversal of the 1954 Brown Decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not use race as a…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

This collection of essays grew out of a series of conferences held by the National Bureau of Economic Research on school finance, public economics, and school choice. After an introduction by Carolyn M. Hoxby, the papers are: (1) "Does Public School Competition Affect Teacher Quality?" (Eric A. Hanushek and Steven G. Rivkin); (2) "Can School…

This book uses extensive interviews and statistical data to examine the failed desegregation efforts in Louisiana as a case study to illustrate how desegregation has followed the same unsuccessful pattern across the United States. It shows that the practical difficulty with desegregation is that academic environments are created by all the…

This analysis considers the urban and educational crises in modern Britain, outlining and explaining the problems and suggesting interrelated solutions. Included is an indepth analysis of the social, economic, and educational revitalization of one inner-city community in Birmingham (England). The first six chapters of this book discuss "The…

The United States is quick to celebrate the Brown v. Board of Education decision, but there is an insidious trend toward resegregation in the public schools. For the first time since 1954, school segregation is actually increasing for African American students. In several rarely discussed decisions, the Supreme Court has opened the door for the…

Independent neighborhood schools are meeting the academic, social, and cultural needs of African American, Hispanic American, Latino American, Native American and Asian American children when viewed from a broad spectrum of criteria for individual and institutional success. Hundreds of these institutions provide full-time academic programs,…