This text examines the factors that shape, reinforce or undermine reform efforts in urban education. It proposes that the barrier to reform can only be overcome by understanding how schools fit into the broader political contexts of their cities.

With critical issues like desegregation and funding facing our schools, dissatisfaction with public education has reached a new high. Teachers decry inadequate resources while critics claim educators are more concerned with job security than effective teaching. Though urban education has reached crisis proportions, contending players have difficulty agreeing on common program of action. This book tells why.