Fixing Urban Schools

Hill and Celio have done a remarkable job of summarizing over 15 years of various attempts to "restructure" urban public education systems. In this brief book, they (1) carefully outline the strengths and weaknesses of each particular strategy - from site-based management, to school "models," to vouchers, to contracting; (2) reveal what each strategy presumes but does not itself provide for, and (3) highlight the political and ideological assumptions that drive reformers to favor one particular strategy (or way to implement a particular strategy) over another. What oft has been thought but never so well expressed, Hill & Celio's articulation of "integrative capital" theory draws together numerous threads in the reform literature and, for my money, is worth the price of the book alone.A short book but by no means a quick read, Fixing Urban Schools is about the one thing that can finally transform public education -- not more educationist gimmicks, new ideas.