JOHN L. RURY is the Chair of the Department of teaching and leadership and Professor in the School of Education at the University of Kansas, USA. He is author of several books including Education and Social Change: Themes in the History of American Schooling.

"John Rury has produced a gem of a book about American urban education. Bracketed by Rury's graceful introduction and epilogue, the essays in this volume extend across the entire history of the Republic. Arguably, urban schools today face greater obstacles and challenges than at any previous point in our nation's past. Yet we cannot hope to solve our contemporary woes if we continue to ignore their historical roots. I wish every American would read this book, which provides illuminating snapshots of the past - and sobering omens for the future." - Jonathan Zimmerman, Director, History of Education Program, New York University

• Introduction: The Development of Urban Education in the United States; J.L. Rury PART ONE: THE ORIGINS OF URBAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS Introduction Common Schools before the 'Common School Revival': New York Schooling in the 1790s; C.F.Kaestle The Origins of Public Education in Baltimore, 1825-1829; T.H.Sheller Popular Education in Nineteenth Century St. Louis; S.K.Troen PART TWO: EARLY URBAN SCHOOL REFORM Introduction Bureaucracy and the Common School: The Example of Portland, Oregon, 1851-1913; D.B.Tyack Urban Reform and the Schools: Kindergartens in Massachusetts; M.Lazerson The Baltimore School Building Program, 1870 to 1900: A Study of Urban School Reform; A.R.Andrews Missing the Mark: Intelligence Testing in the Los Angeles Public Schools, 1922-32; J.Raftery PART THREE: THE EVOLUTION OF URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AND POLITICS Introduction Pilgrim's Progress: Toward a Social History of the School Superintendency, 1860-1960; D.B.Tyack Progressivism and Curriculum Differentiation: Special Classes in the Atlanta Public Schools, 1898-1923; B.Franklin Taxation and Social Conflict: Teacher Unionism and Public School Finance in Chicago, 1898-1934; M.Murphy The Politics of Educational Retrenchment in Detroit, 1929-1935; J.Mirel PART FOUR: URBAN SCHOOLS IN CONTEMPORARY HISTORY Introduction Race, Space, and the Politics of Chicago's Public Schools: Benjamin Willis and the Tragedy of Urban Education; J.L.Rury The Community is Beginning to Rumble: The Origins of Chicano Educational Protest in Houston, 1965-1970; G.San Miguel Bureaucratic Order and Special Children: Urban Schools, 1950s-1960s; J.L.Tropea Race, Social Class, and Educational Reform in an Inner City School; J.Anyon The Milwaukee Voucher Experiment; J.F.Witte High Stakes in Chicago; B.Jacobs Epilogue: Past as Prologue: The Uncertain Future of Urban Schooling