Challenges of Urban Education

At the University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, Karen A. McClafferty is a Doctoral Candidate, Carlos Alberto Torres is Director of the Latin American Center and Professor of Education, and Theodore R. Mitchell is Professor of Education and Vice President for Education and Strategic Initiatives, J. Paul Getty Trust. Carlos Alberto Torres is the author and editor of several books, including, with Theodore R. Mitchell, Sociology of Education: Emerging Perspectives, also published by SUNY Press.

"This book is definitely on the cutting edge of educational sociology theory and practice." — Yali Zou, author of Ethnic Identity and Power: Cultural Contexts of Political Action in School and Society"This book synthesizes many of the current issues facing urban schools. I was particularly intrigued by the way it shed insight into specific pedagogical approaches that validated the culture of many urban youth by infusing their culture into the curriculum. Such examples of culturally responsive pedagogy are needed to engage urban students in learning. The book illustrates the disconnection that so frequently exists between the lived experiences of urban youth and the school curriculum while simultaneously showing how some teachers have made connections between the two resulting in powerful pedagogy." — Grace Cureton Stanford, Penn State University

• Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Part I: Critical Issues in Urban Education and Challenges for the Sociology of Education Introduction: Challenges of the New Sociology of Urban EducationKaren A. McClafferty, Carlos A. Torres and Theodore R. Mitchell 1. Power, Meaning, and Identity: Critical Sociology of Education in the United StatesMichael W. Apple 2. Social Theory and Educational Research: Reframing the Quantitative-Qualitative Distinction through a Critical Theory of MethodologyRaymond A. Morrow 3. Sociology of Education and Urban Education PolicyGeoff Whitty Part II: Empirical Perspectives on Urban Education 4. Where Neoliberal Ideology Meets Social Context: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. Charter Schools and England's Grant-Maintained SchoolsAmy Stuart Wells 5. Corporations and Classrooms: A Critical Examination of the Business Agenda for Urban School ReformRoslyn Arlin Mickelson 6. A Comparative Analysis of Existing Secondary School Discipline Policies: Implications for Improving Practice and School SafetyPamela Fenning, James D. Wilczynski, and Marianela Parraga 7. Modeling the Effects of Changing Demography on Student Learning: Applications Designed to Change School District PracticesAnthony Gary Dworkin, Laurence A. Toenjes, Margaret K. Purser, and Ayman Sheikh-Hussin 8. Gangsta Pedagogy and Ghettoncentricity: The Hip-Hop Nation as Counterpublic SpherePeter McLaren 9. Battlin' Nihilism at an Urban High School: Pedagogy, Perseverance, and HopeDavid Keiser Part III: In Conclusion: Reflections on the Dilemmas of Urban Education Reform 10. Gaps, Bridges, and Buffers in the Research, Policy, and Practice of Urban Education: A DialogueTheodore R. Mitchell, Carlos A. Torres, and Karen A. McClafferty 11. Memoirs of Urban Education Policymakers: A Dialogue among Three Former Urban School SuperintendentsHarry Handler, Sid Thompson, and Eugene Tucker with Carlos A. Torres and Karen A. McClafferty The Contributors Index