Robert Rueda - Böcker

Many factors complicate the education of urban students. Among them have been issues related to population density; racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; poverty; racism (individual and institutional); and funding levels. Although urban educators have been addressing these issues for decades, placing them under the umbrella of "urban education" and treating them as a specific area of practice and inquiry is relatively recent. Despite the wide adoption of the term a consensus about its meaning exists at only the broadest of levels. In short, urban education remains an ill-defined concept. This comprehensive volume addresses this definitional challenge and provides a 3-part conceptual model in which the achievement of equity for all -- regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity – is an ideal that is central to urban education. The model also posits that effective urban education requires attention to the three central issues that confronts all education systems (a) accountability of individuals and the institutions in which they work, (b) leadership, which occurs in multiple ways and at multiple levels, and (c) learning, which is the raison d'être of education. Just as a three-legged stool would fall if any one leg were weak or missing, each of these areas is essential to effective urban education and affects the others.

Many factors complicate the education of urban students. Among them have been issues related to population density; racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; poverty; racism (individual and institutional); and funding levels. Although urban educators have been addressing these issues for decades, placing them under the umbrella of "urban education" and treating them as a specific area of practice and inquiry is relatively recent. Despite the wide adoption of the term a consensus about its meaning exists at only the broadest of levels. In short, urban education remains an ill-defined concept. This comprehensive volume addresses this definitional challenge and provides a 3-part conceptual model in which the achievement of equity for all -- regardless of race, gender, or ethnicity – is an ideal that is central to urban education. The model also posits that effective urban education requires attention to the three central issues that confronts all education systems (a) accountability of individuals and the institutions in which they work, (b) leadership, which occurs in multiple ways and at multiple levels, and (c) learning, which is the raison d'être of education. Just as a three-legged stool would fall if any one leg were weak or missing, each of these areas is essential to effective urban education and affects the others.

Drawing on work from educational psychology as well as several other fields, Rueda identifies three primary reasons for the stubborn failure of most school reform efforts: 1) a fragmentation of approaches, 2) a misalignment of approaches and goals, and 3) a failure to match solutions to problems. He argues that most performance and achievement problems are rooted in knowledge gaps, motivation gaps, and institutional gaps, or a combination thereof. This book provides an overview of each of these three dimensions, and discusses ways that they can affect performance. It then discusses a problem-solving framework that helps pinpoint where gaps exist in school efforts to improve performance, and then targets development of solutions and successful outcome loops that are customised to the specific areas that are problematic. The book concludes with a discussion of cultural and contextual considerations that must be taken into account when addressing school-based problems.At a time of shrinking budgets and growing accountability, this practical book provides a way to assure that scarce resources are targeted appropriately.