Urban School Leaders Optimistic About Future of Big-City Schools
Three Studies to Be Released at Great City Schools Conference
WASHINGTON, March 16 - The vast majority of the nation's big-city
school leaders are optimistic about the future of urban schools and
believe current reforms and improvement strategies are making a
difference for their school systems, according to a new survey of
America's urban school leadership.
The survey will be released, alongside two other reports on
trends in urban education and superintendents' tenure and salaries,
at the Council of the Great City Schools' Annual Legislative/Policy
Conference, March 18-21, at Washington's Watergate Hotel, 2650
Virginia Ave., N.W.
More than 300 urban school superintendents, senior
administrators, board members and deans of colleges of education
will convene to discuss major federal policy and legislative
initiatives, including the reauthorization of the Elementary and
Secondary Education Act (ESEA), school construction, class-size,
E-rate and Medicaid.
The conference begins with urban school leaders discussing
pressing issues in urban education. The Council, a coalition of the
nation's largest urban public school systems, has five task
forces--urban school finance, achievement gaps, bilingual education,
school leadership/governance and urban school professional
development-- that will meet to formulate strategies.
On March 19, urban educators will hear from educational
commentator Jonathan Kozol, the author of a new book, Ordinary
Resurrections. They will also hear from Peter Yarrow of the
vocal group, Peter, Paul and Mary, who will introduce a non-violence
program and North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt, who will discuss teacher
recruitment, salaries, and standards.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education
Michael Cohen will give a briefing on March 20 on ESEA and reducing
class sizes in the nation's urban schools, followed by Rep. Charles
Rangel (D-N.Y.), who will receive the Council's "Thurgood Marshall
Award for Excellence and Equity in Urban Education."
Other guests will include House Education Committee Chair William
Goodling (R-Pa.), who will receive a special recognition award; Kate
Moore, president of the Schools and Libraries Corporation; and
numerous House and Senate staff who will brief urban educators.
Optimism in urban education is reflected in the new report,
Critical Trends in Urban Education: Fourth Biennial Survey of
America's Great City Schools, surveying the leadership of America's
major urban public schools systems about the challenges they face
and their expectations for the future. The study reports that 85.1
percent of respondents were optimistic about the future of urban
schools--a steady increase from 61.5 percent in 1995-96 and 82.1
percent in 1997-98.
Critical Trends also shows that
the reform strategy urban school leaders use the most is
professional development, followed by enhanced student reading
programs, higher content standards and partnerships with business
and community leaders.
"The results of this survey indicate that urban school leaders
are using a variety of educational reform strategies to combat the
challenging and pressing needs in their districts," says Council
Executive Director Michael Casserly. "Despite the obstacles, the
leaders in our nation's urban schools remain overwhelmingly
optimistic about the future of our schools."
The Council will also release two
additional reports, Ten Year Trends in Urban Education:
1987-1997, which provides statistics on demographic and
financial changes in big-city schools, and Urban School
Superintendents: Characteristics, Tenure, and Salary, the second
biennial report. | 
