Meaningful Urban Education Reform: Confronting the Learning Crisis in Mathematics and Science

Based on a three-year study of the National Science Foundation's Urban Systemic Initiative, Meaningful Urban Education Reform is an overview of recent attempts to change teaching in mathematics and science in urban environments. The book evaluates the impact of educational reform on urban schools, determines how schools with the highest levels of poverty in the United States can make successful changes, and investigates how communities and policy makers contribute to student achievement.

Contributors provide compelling portraits of classrooms, teachers, and students in elementary, middle, and high schools through case studies and examples from intensive research in four locations: Chicago, El Paso, Memphis, and Miami. They interviewed, observed, and gathered information from district administrators, school principals, teachers, students and their parents, and community members. The book provides valuable insight into how systemic reform works, offers suggestions regarding assessment of successful learning environments, and addresses the need for intensive, long-term professional development for the purpose of engaging teachers with their colleagues in communities of practice supported by a strong school culture.

“…the text is organized and accessible in a manner that is energizing and informative. As an urban practitioner reading the book, I think that everyone involved in urban education would find [Borman’s] analysis provocative and insightful … She presents us with the insights that give fuel to the passion many have for urban education.” — Eileen Quinn Knight, Teachers College Record

Contributors include M. Yvette Baber, Jessica Barber, Kathryn M. Borman, Theodore Boydston, Bridget Cotner, William Katzenmeyer, Gladis Kersaint, Jeffrey D. Kromrey, Reginald Lee, and Kazuaki Uekawa.