Jeffrey R. Henig is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies at
George Washington University. His books include Rethinking School Choice (Princeton).
Hula, Richard C. : Michigan State University
Richard C. Hula is Professor of Political Science and Urban Affairs at Michigan State University and is the
author of Market-Based Public Policy and The Reconstruction of Family Policy.
Orr, Marion : Brown University
Marion Orr is Associate Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies at Brown University and is the author
of Black Social Capital: The Politics of School Reform in Baltimore, 1986-1998.
Pedescleaux, Desiree S. : Spelman College
Desiree S. Pedescleaux is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Spelman College.
Review
"The authors have plainly done their homework. They have reviewed thousands of news clips and official
reports, conducted scores of interviews and surveyed a wide array of influential actors. . . . Although the authors
are plainly sympathetic to the aspirations of the reformers, they have checked their dreams at the door. That they
do not shy away from telling inconvenient truths . . . gives them greater credence to their account."
--David L. Kirp, The Nation
"Written with passion for its subject but cool in its analysis, The Color of School Reform is a much-needed
comparative urban study. The authors demonstrate deep knowledge of their four cities, but rather than giving us
simply a series of case studies, they organize their findings according to particular types of actors. This analytically
more elegant structure facilitates our understanding of how school personnel, community activists, elected officials,
and corporate leaders contribute to--or inhibit--the development of civic capacity. The use of theories drawn from
a variety of fields makes this book accessible to a wide range of social scientists."
--Jennifer Hochschild, Harvard University
"Works on school reform that centralize the race variable are rare. Bringing together an unparalleled data
set and a series of face-to-face interviews, The Color of School Reform generates new findings, rich insights,
a powerful interpretation, and very wise policy recommendations. It is an interesting and intriguing, if not captivating,
piece of scholarship."
--Hanes Walton, Jr., University of Michigan
Princeton University Press Web Site, December, 2001
Summary
Why is it so difficult to design and implement fundamental educational reform in large city schools in spite
of broad popular support for change? How does the politics of race complicate the challenge of building and sustaining
coalitions for improving urban schools? These questions have provoked a great deal of theorizing, but this is the
first book to explore the issues on the basis of extensive, solid evidence. Here a group of political scientists
examines education reform in Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., where local governmental authority
has passed from white to black leaders. The authors show that black administrative control of big-city school systems
has not translated into broad improvements in the quality of public education within black-led cities. Race can
be crucial, however, in fostering the broad civic involvement perhaps most needed for school reform.
In each city examined, reform efforts often arise but collapse, partly because leaders are unable to craft effective
political coalitions that would commit community resources to a concrete policy agenda. What undermines the leadership,
according to the authors, is the complex role of race in each city. First, public authority does not guarantee
access to private resources, usually still controlled by white economic elites. Second, local authorities must
interact with external actors, at the state and national levels, who remain predominantly white. Finally, issues
of race divide the African American community itself and often place limits on what leaders can and cannot do.
Filled with insightful explanations together with recommendations for policy change, this book is an important
component of the debate now being waged among researchers, education activists, and the community as a whole.
Table of Contents
List of Figures ix
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter One Civic Capacity, Race, and Education in Black-Led Cities 3
The Challenge of Urban Education 9
Reforms That Go Nowhere 12
Civic Capacity: Organizing Communities to Get Things Done 14
A Tough Task: Why Human Development May Be More Difficult than Economic Development 15
Competing Views of Race and School Politics 17
Research Design 22
The Plan of the Book 26
Chapter Two Racial Change and the Politics of Transition 30
Patterns of Racial Turnover in Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and D.C. 31
Racial Transition and Political Change: The Rise of Black Political Power 33
Managing School Desegregation 41
Political Compromise and Transition: The Evolution of Black-led School Districts 50
The Political Landscape in Black-Led Cities: From Formal to Informal Power 55
Conclusion: Historical Legacies and Racial Politics 61
Chapter Three The Elusiveness of Education Reform 63
The Condition of Education: Poor Performance and Even Poorer Conditions 65
Local Problem Definitions: A Favorable Foundation for Reform 71
An Array of Reform Efforts 74
The Frustration of Reform 82
Why Is Reform So Difficult? 113
Chapter Four Race and the Political Economy of Big-City Schools: Teachers and Preachers 115
Race, jobs, and Politics 118
Unions and Reform 127
Black Ministers and School Affairs: 1960-1980 137
Reform with Teachers and jobs in Mind 152
Chapter Five Parental and Community Participation in Education Reform 155
What Kind of Participation and on Whose Terms? 158
Patterns of Participation in Black-Led Cities 164
The Dog That Hasn't Barked: Accounting for the Absence of a Stronger Community-Based Movement 189
Fizzled Expectations 207
Chapter Six Black Leaders, White Businesses: Racial Tensions and the Construction of Public-Private Partnerships
in Education 209
Business-School Partnerships: The Rallying Cry 212
Some Cautionary Notes 217
Business and School Reform in Black-Led Cities 220
Race As an Inhibiting Factor to Business Involvement 235
Partnerships and Racial Politics in Black-Led Cities 243
Chapter Seven The Role of External Actors 247
Traditional Roles of External Actors 249
Growing Regulatory Assertiveness of External Actors 252
The Changing Role of the Courts 255
Current Issues and Interventions 257
Variations in State Policy 266
Local Capacity and External Actors 271
Chapter Eight School Reform As If Politics and Race Matter 273
Race As a Complicating Factor in the Politics of School Reform 275
Education Policy As If Politics and Race Matter 279
Prospects for a Human Capital Regime 290
