City Schools and the American Dream 2: The Enduring Promise of Public Education

by Pedro A. Noguera, Esa Syeed

Overview

Over a decade ago, the first edition of City Schools and the American Dream debuted just as reformers were gearing up to make sweeping changes in urban education. Despite the rhetoric and many reform initiatives, urban schools continue to struggle under the weight of serious challenges. What went wrong and is there hope for future change? More than a new edition, this sequel to the original bestseller has been substantially revised to include insights from new research, recent demographic trends, and emerging political realities. In addition to surveying the various limitations that urban schools face, the book also highlights programs, communities, and schools that are making good on public education’s promise of equity. With renewed commitment and sense of urgency, this new edition provides a clear-eyed vision of what it will take to ensure the success of city schools and their students.

Book Features:

• Surveys persistent and emerging challenges in urban education.
• Synthesizes the latest education research in a way that is accessible to a wide audience, including teachers, students, administrators, parents, and community partners.
• Focuses on solutions, highlighting new developments and opportunities for achieving educational equity despite ongoing political challenges.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807778555
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	07/10/2020
Series:	Multicultural Education Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	834 KB

About the Author

Pedro A. Noguera is the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean of the USC Rossier School of Education. Esa Syeed is an assistant professor in the department of sociology at the California State University–Long Beach.

Table of Contents

Contents (Tentative)

Series Foreword James A. Banks

Preface

1. City Schools Revisited: The Politics and Possibilities of Urban Education
Introduction
NCLB and The Emergence of a New Education Reform Movement
The Legacy Of NCLB: Wide-Ranging Impacts, Little Improvement
A New Era of Reform Under Trump?
The Urban Context: Change and Consistency

2. The Social Context and Its Impact on Inner-City Schooling
The Making of the City and Its Schools: Urbanization, Segregation, and the Accumulation of Disadvantage.
Re-Making The “Urban”: The Changing Character of City Schools
The Need for Contextual Explanations: The Case of School Closures
A Wider Focus: Bringing Contexts into our Work

3. The Role of Schools in Reducing Racial Inequality
Structural Racism and The Persistence of Racial Disparities
A Day in the Life: Racial Disparities in Lived Experience
Changing Paradigms of Race
Seeking Possibilities: Teaching for Racial Justice
Without Honors: Race and the Mechanisms of Tracking
Conclusion

4. The Power to Change: Limits and Opportunities in School Reform
A View from the Top: Power and Elite-led Reforms
Power to the Person: Charters and the Individualization of Change
People Power: Building Capacity at the Grassroots
Bringing it all Together: California and School Finance Reforms
Conclusion

5. Safety, Security and the Threat of Violence in Urban Schools
Beyond Fear: Understanding and Responding to Threats to School Safety
The Sociology of Violence in Urban Areas
Addressing Violence by Building and Repairing Trust
The Role of Trust in Promoting Safety in Schools
Conclusion

6. Conclusion: Still Pursuing the Dream
Can We Learn From Success?
From Reform to Transformation
Expanding Access to Educational Opportunity
Addressing the Structural Barriers to Change
Recognizing Constraints and Acting on Possibilities for Change

References

Index

About the Authors

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In their update to City Schools and the American Dream, authors Pedro Noguera and Esa Syeed explore the myriad obstacles that make it so difficult to provide a consistently high-quality education to students in America’s urban schools. But Noguera and Syeed don’t simply analyze the problems; rather, they provide concrete examples of innovative strategies and practices employed by urban schools that are succeeding against all odds. The book provides hope and optimism that our city schools—and, indeed, all schools—can rise above societal and political obstacles to provide the kinds of equitable opportunities that will allow all students to flourish.”
—Betty A. Rosa, chancellor, New York State Board of Regents

“In a time of increasing gentrification, homelessness, and so-called populist leanings, Noguera and Syeed remind us that the city is the place of regeneration and hope. Thus, city schools continue to play one of the most important roles in our quest to restore democracy. This is a must-read...again!”
—Gloria Ladson-Billings, president, National Academy of Education, University of Wisconsin–Madison

“Pedro Noguera is America’s education maître-penseur. City Schools and the American Dream, written with Esa Syeed, is the much-awaited sequel to his best-selling 2003 volume. In six pithy chapters, with new data, savvy theorizing, and palpable wisdom, the authors illuminate some of the defining issues confronting our city schools today: growing inequality, persistent poverty, resegregation, and so much more. Just as importantly, they offer smart, hopeful, and pragmatic recommendations for reclaiming the idea that quality education for all is the path to the elusive American Dream. It is the book every teacher, parent, policymaker, and engaged citizen should read.”
—Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, Casey Wasserman Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA

“Public schools remain a central feature in the evolution of social, economic, and academic development of children, families, and communities. In City Schools and the American Dream Drs. Noguera and Saeed have it exactly right—by strengthening instructional support, focusing on the elements of high performance, and disrupting behaviors known to undermine teaching and learning, schools can better serve our most vulnerable communities. This book is ahead of its time and can make a real difference if its lessons are applied. It stands in the space where most districts would like to engage teachers, leaders, and parents but cannot. I highly recommend this book.”
—Rudy Crew, president of Medgar Evers College and former chancellor of New York City Public Schools

“City Schools and the American Dream 2 makes clear why the myth of silver bullet education reforms has failed our children and our communities. Policymakers far removed from the classroom have not addressed systemic inequalities rooted in America’s social, economic, and racial policies and practices. At the same time, the authors raise the right way to help children—by focusing on questions that address the conditions of teaching and learning.”
—Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers

“City Schools and the American Dream is a foundational text in education and education reform. It succinctly and eloquently illustrates the perpetual patterns of inequality and oppression that plague American schools, while also believing deeply in the promise of public education. The updated edition improves upon the already extraordinary first edition by exploring key changes in the educational landscape since 2003, reflecting on what we’ve learned from NCLB and the charter school movement, and calling on us to renew our collective commitment to a high-quality system of public education that functions to disrupt longstanding patterns of inequality. This book is really a must-read!”
—Na'ilah Suad Nasir, president, Spencer Foundation

Praise for the First Edition of City Schools and the American Dream

“This book will prove useful to anyone interested in and perplexed by how to reform urban public schools in this country.”
—Harvard Educational Review

“This well-researched and well-written book should be on every American educator’s reading list.”
—Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

“This clearly written manifesto places children at the heart of his passion to reform America’s failing urban public schools.”
—Journal of Educational Change

“The power of City Schools lies in Noguera’s humane, respectful, and impassioned perspective. We must meet the needs of communities and improve the conditions that impair the ability of schools to educate. But we also must respect the place public schools have in communities and find ways to make them accountable to the families that send their children there.”
—The Coalition of Essential Schools

Editorial Reviews

In the context of academic and public discourses that perpetually highlight what is ‘wrong’ with city schools, Noguera and Syeed offer a vital treatise on schools’ potential for advancing racial justice and social equity in K-12 education and beyond. While this premise undergirds both City Schools volumes, it is supported in City Schools 2 by a plethora of new and timely information and fresh theoretical perspectives. As such, this book has much to offer researchers, practitioners, and policy makers interested in the improvement of urban schools and public K-12 education more broadly and the well-being of the constituents they serve.”

—Teachers College Record

“The authors challenge readers to direct their attention to urban schooling as the vehicle for opening the world to students.”

—CHOICE

From the Publisher