Chapter 22: A New Model for Governance in Big City School Districts

American public education is in crisis. In spite of media reports to the contrary, the root of this crisis is not school violence, high teacher turnovers, or dropping graduation rates. Instead, the crisis plaguing public education in the latter half of the 20th century has been one of confidence or the lack thereof. In spite of the fact that more young people are matriculating to college, public schools continue to be characterized as poorly managed, inadequately staffed, and unable to prepare students for the future. Even though this crisis is a systemic issue, urban school systems receive the bulk of these negative critiques. To satisfy critics, urban public schools are forced to institute policy changes that are perceived to make them more accountable to various sectors of the public.