Urban Schools, Public Will

In this important book, Norm Fruchter argues that our national failure to carry out the Brown mandate has produced segregated urban school systems that fail to educate poor students of color. Drawing on a rich array of research and personal experience, he examines why urban districts have failed and what must be done to transform our city schools. He identifies urban districts as the key actors in this transformation and profiles three school districts that have achieved significant success in closing the achievement gap. He also identifies grassroots community organizing as a critical lever for provoking and supporting meaningful change in schools. This provocative book should be read by all educators, policymakers, parents, and civic activists committed to improving public education for all students.

Book Features:

• Vignettes from the author’s broad experience with public schooling—teacher, parent organizer, school board member, foundation grant-maker, evaluator, and researcher.
• An in-depth look at effective schools and the policies that support them.
• Strategies used by grassroots campaigns to improve local schools and districts.

Norm Fruchter is the director of the Community Involvement Program of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University.

“This book is not about ‘other people’s children.’ It is apparent on every page that Norm Fruchter believes that the struggle to transform urban schools is about him, about all of us, as much as it is about the parents of the children currently attending schools in urban America.”
— From the Foreword by Theresa Perry, Simmons College

“Norm Fruchter brings his breadth of intellect and deep and eclectic experience to an analysis of the consequences of America's failure to implement Brown v. Board of Education….a provocative argument for organizing for public will.”
Michele Cahill, Senior Counselor to the Chancellor for Education Policy, New York City Department of Education

“Bravo! Fruchter unmasks the willful degradation of American urban schools. Even better, he calls for powerful and disruptive action that, unlike mainstream reform, might actually make them effective and accountable to urban children and communities.”
Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor and Director, UCLA's Institute for Democracy Education & Access

“For anyone who cares about the future of education in our country, this book should top the list.”
—Anne T. Henderson, Annenberg Institute for School Reform