Mayors in the Middle : : Politics, Race, and Mayoral Control of Urban Schools / / Jeffrey R. Henig, Wilbur C. Rich.

• MitwirkendeR: Stone, Clarence N.,; Shipps, Dorothy,; Henig, Jeffrey R.,; Mirel, Jeffrey,; Portz, John,; Meier, Kenneth J.,; Orr, Marion,; Chambers, Stefanie,; Rich, Wilbur C.,
• HerausgeberIn: Henig, Jeffrey R.,; Rich, Wilbur C.,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©2004
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource :; 7 line illus. 18 tables.

Desperate to jump-start the reform process in America's urban schools, politicians, scholars, and school advocates are looking increasingly to mayors for leadership. But does a stronger mayoral role represent bold institutional change with real potential to improve big-city schools, or just the latest in the copycat world of school reform du jour? Is it democratic? Why have efforts to put mayors in charge so often generated resistance along racial dividing lines? Public debate and scholarly analysis have shied away from confronting such issues head-on. Mayors in the Middle brings together, for students of education policy and urban politics as well as scholars and school advocates, the most thoughtful and original analyses of the promise and limitations of mayoral takeovers of schools. Reflecting on the experience of six cities--Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C.--ten of the nation's leading experts on education politics tackle the question of whether putting mayors in charge is a step in the right direction. Through the case studies and the wide-ranging essays that follow and build upon them, the contributors--Stefanie Chambers, Jeffrey R. Henig, Kenneth J. Meier, Jeffrey Mirel, Marion Orr, John Portz, Wilbur C. Rich, Dorothy Shipps, and Clarence N. Stone--begin the process of answering questions critical to the future of inner-city children, the prospects for urban revitalization, and the shape of American education in the years to come.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Contributors -- PART 1. INTRODUCTION -- Chapter One. Mayor-centrism in Context -- PART 2. CASE STUDIES -- Chapter Two. Baltimore: The Limits of Mayoral Control -- Chapter Three. Chicago: The National "Model" Reexamined -- Chapter Four. Boston: Agenda Setting and School Reform in a Mayor-centric System -- Chapter Five. Detroit: "There Is Still a Long Road to Travel, and Success Is Far from Assured." -- Chapter Six. Cleveland: Takeovers and Makeovers Are Not the Same -- Chapter Seven. Washington, D.C.: Race, Issue Definition, and School Board Restructuring -- PART 3. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES -- Chapter Eight. Structure, Politics, and Policy: The Logic of Mayoral Control -- Chapter Nine. Mayors and the Challenge of Modernization -- Chapter Ten. Concluding Observations: Governance Structure as a Tool, Not a Solution -- Index