City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education

by Pedro A. Noguera

Book Overview

What will it take for urban schools to achieve the kind of academic performance required by new state and national educational standards? How can classroom teachers in city schools help to close the achievement gap? What can restore public confidence in public schools?

Pedro Noguera argues that higher standards and more tests, by themselves, will not make low-income urban students any smarter and the schools they attend more successful without...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080774381X
• ISBN13: 9780807743812
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 189 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Offers hope and ideas

Pedro Noguera offers hope and ideas for urban education from his own personal experience working in the Bay area. Definitely recommended.

A. Benedict

Schools are in crisis, even more so since No Child Left Behind. Like Noguera writes, it's not all about poor kids and bad teachers. The problems are systemic and structural, the vestiges of a 100-year-old system of education that wheezes and puffs just to get the school door open. No other industrialized nation struggles with "tradition" and outmoded legislative mandates, or new mandates that exacerbate an already bad situation. Further, education needs to be given back to eduators, and educators should be held totally responsible for outcomes. And our kids deserve the best! If you liked Noguera's work, I would recommend "The Kids Are The Easy Part - An Insider's Perspective on School Reform" by Ben Baglio. It's written in plain language that's easy to digest.

A book whose time has come, Pedro writes "a classic"

City Schools and the American Dream by Pedro Noguera is one of the most excellent books in the field of education. He articulately writes about how we can improve urban schools as well as help the poorest, neediest students. He insists that there are models of successful schools who have common characteristics. He writes about such subjects as the achievement gap, safety in schools and inequality in schools. This is a must read for any educator who wants to know what is really going on in our inner city schools. This is also a good book for anyone interested in the future of our children. Dr. Noguera is right on. What a blessing he is to the world.