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As the primary target of the school reform movement, urban education remains the most difficult to assess and repair. Indeed, the crisis evident in urban school systems mirrors many of the problems found in big cities themselves — poor economic conditions for schools and families, personnel shortages and high turnover rates, improper facilities and materials, and political struggles over issues of structure and control. This book analyzes the problems effecting urban schools and their students and some of the efforts that have been developed to make these schools more accountable and effective.

That teaching and learning with technology has no meaning apart from teachers and learners is the important message of this fine collection of essays. The editors, Sharon Tettegah and Richard Hunter, are to be commended for their timely volume entitled, Technology and Education: Issues in Administration, Policy, and Applications in K-12 Schools. While the message that machines are meaningless without human minds seems self-evident, there is something about computerized technologies – in schools especially – that undermines and over-rides this important insight. At a time when the wonders of “wireless” and “wiki” distract more than ever from the main educational game, this wide-ranging anthology presents a persuasive and powerful testimony reaffirming the fundamental principle that educational technologies are only as effective as the curriculums, the pedagogies, and the assessment practices that frame their usage.

To Saran's mama, Maggie Shaw, and Richard's loving wife, Margo; we are very grateful for your sacrifice and dedication. We greatly appreciate your unwavering support and encouragement.

This chapter reviews the rationale for the text and reflects on the contents of the text. This text was motivated by the issues based upon implementation of the 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal education statute. The NCLB Act and other related program designed to help education urban and minority enrolled in Title I programs of NCLB with white children. NCLB applies only to local Title I schools; however, the Act allows individual states to determine the number of Title I schools and the number of subgroups to be assessed using standardized tests. The Text is divided into two sections: Educational Equity and Process and Research. The first section on educational equity discusses the policy implication of NCLB and its history and the second section examines avenues on how to effectively implement programs under Title I and other requirements under NCLB. The authors explore the federal government's efforts to close the achievement gap between different sub-population of students under NCLB. Today, global economic rules and the country's population have changed. Economic globalization demands a better-educated workforce and the new economic players are already making American pay for an increasingly less competitive work force. NCLB has been with us for 40 years with the aim of closing the achievement gap between minority students and white students; and the achievement gap continues 50 years later. These 20 chapters by national and international scholars and educators provide educators, policy makers and government officers with current information and research needed to make improved decisions on closing the achievement gap; and hopeful improve the life of our citizens.

Public school educators are confronted daily with myriad issues that demand unique knowledge of not only educational processes, but of political and financial ones as well. Among the most important of these issues are the social and moral responsibilities to educate children with disabilities. During the late 1960s and 1970s, the nation experienced a new sensitivity to human rights as well as an increased awareness of the indignities suffered as a result of discrimination and the denial of rights of persons with disabilities. Of late, the mood of the people and the national leadership has appeared to turn somewhat away from the abiding interest in human rights; nonetheless, the recognition of rights continues, as they have emanated from federal Constitutional interpretations and statutes. Both sources of rights constitute a persistent reflection of civil and cultural advancements of significant proportions. Thus, rights have become vested by action of government, and the public schools have been, in large part, the vehicle for ensuring the realization of these rights. School administrators, by virtue of their public responsibilities, have been the advance guard in effectively achieving and implementing these rights. Children with disabilities have posed a particular educational challenge because remediation of disabilities was intensely personal and many times unique to the individual child. Thus, of necessity, the educational responses and procedures were correspondingly singular and in most cases very complex, requiring a substantial commitment of public school financial resources. It goes without saying that the right to an appropriate education remains a hollow promise without provision of adequate and continuing public support.

Today, the public schools are in crisis with various sectors of society questioning their performance and ability to provide the quality of education needed to maintain our nation's pre-eminence in the world economy. We organized the book into three sections, which examine the complex issue of public education and suggest that increasing the role teachers and others play in delivering public education will enhance and improve schools. The first section focuses on the academic processes prospective school leaders must go through before entering an administrative position. Chapters in this section discuss issues such as those who train, hire, and aspire to become school leaders. The second section examines issues affecting administrators while serving in the role of school leader. Topics discussed include using community cultural values to create a positive school climate and environment, various issues affecting teacher leadership, and the politics of school administration. The final section of the book encourages both active and potential school leaders to re-examine themselves as leaders and encourages practitioners to consider their perspective on school administration and their rise to the position.

Under increasing pressure to reform low performing schools and improve the test scores of all students, many states have turned to school takeovers as way of bringing about radical reform. Although it has been more than a decade since the first state sponsored school takeover occurred, this reform strategy has yet to be proven effective. This article begins with a brief description of school takeovers. This is followed by a critical analysis of how school takeovers were constructed by, carried out in and the lasting impact on school districts in Logan County, West Virginia; Newark, New Jersey and Compton, California.

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is the most sweeping policy legislation in the history of public education in the United States. It is an umbrella for many federal government initiatives impacting public education, including ESEA, Title I, the large federal compensatory education program that began as part of President Johnson's “Great Society” program in the mid-1960s. A brief review of selected interventions to improve public education and social justice for poor African-American public school students, whose education was heavily impacted by decades of slavery and other forms of racism are discussed. Specific requirements of NCLB are presented in detail, including a review of advantages and disadvantages of this legislation. Since its implementation, NCLB has been unpopular with many public school districts and professional education organizations because it seeks to hold them accountable for results obtained with different subgroups of students. Several recent challenges to NCLB are discussed as well as concessions to reduce requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) recently negotiated between the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) and state departments of education will permit more school to make AYP. Parents views of NCLB and public education in general are presented. Finally, a discussion of poverty, as seen through the revealing lens of Hurricane Katrina, and its impacts on achieving the laudable goals of NCLB are presented in this chapter.

This chapter is on teacher leadership and how principals can improve schools by increasing the role teacher's play in school operations. The author maintains that principals and teachers must work together if schools are to achieve higher levels of student performance, especially those who serve high concentrations of minority students. Various leadership theories are presented, as well as recommendations of how principals and teachers can work together to enhance the leadership abilities of both.