Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools-- And Winning: Lessons from Houston

By Donald R. McAdams

Book Overview

An account of the reform of a major American urban school district, this text focuses on the battles over power, jobs, contracts, taxes and race. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807738840
• ISBN13: 9780807738849
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 293 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

book review

This book is a great look into the inner workings of a school board and how it functions.

Pathbreaking Account About Houston & Rod Paige

McAdams, Donald R., Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools... and Winning! Lessons From Houston. New York, NY: Teachers College Press (2000). This is such a pathbreaking book that it is essential reading for school board members and others who are concerned about the sad condition of our system of education. It is notable for at least three reasons. First, it is a detailed descriptive account written by an active school board member and one of a team of leaders in the very significant education reform effort that started in Houston in 1990 and is ongoing. Second, one of McAdams' close associates in reforming the Houston school system, Dr. Rod Paige, has now been sworn in as Secretary of Education in President George W. Bush's cabinet. Third, after Dr. Paige had served as a member of the school board for over four years, his fellow board members decided, in a very controversial and unorthodox action, to appoint him to be superintendent of schools, even though he was not "qualified" by the existing rules of the system, and was opposed by the education bureaucracy. That decision made in "Houston in 1994 helped start a pattern of nontraditional urban school district leadership that would include army generals (Seattle and Washington, D.C.), a county human services director (Milwaukee), a city budget director (Chicago), and a local prosecutor (San Diego). In all of these cities, and others such as New York City, reform has implied thinking outside the normal educator's box." [comment by G. Alfred Hess, Jr] Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools is pathbreaking because it is the first detailed first-person description of the workings of a very successful reform school board by a member of that board. It reads like a spellbinding novel and describes in detail, but with tact and wisdom, the actions of a large number of players who are cited by name. The players include one superinten- dent that was fired by the board, another superintendent who accomplished some very good things but then began to ignore the policies decided on by the board and avoided a confrontation by leaving to take a position with another school district, an extremely difficult-to-work-with union leader, community and regional business leaders, various ethnic and other interest groups, legislators, state and city bureaucrats, and Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush. This book is probably also the best source so far available on the unusual career of Dr. Paige, who has won the respect and admiration of educational reform leaders across the country. Both Dr. Paige and Don McAdams are moderate Republicans who worked closely with Democrats and others in a non-partisan way to do what was needed for their students and for their community. Before his election to the Houston Independent School District Board of Education, Dr. Paige had been a well-known coach, professor of education, and college dean of education. Soon after being elected to the HISD board, Dr. Paige served on a board commi

Telling how sausage is made

This is the first book to explain the complexity of school district politics and show how questions of educational quality are so often put second to adult interests. It shows how one of the biggest and most complex cities in American has actually made some -- though not enough -- improvements to its public schools. it also provides good suggestions for school board members and citizens elsewhere.

Warts and all candor

Told from the admittedly biased viewpoint of one who was in the trenches, this is a must read for anyone interested in reform in the public schools. There is intrigue, dirty dealing, ethnic conflict, blackmail, and politics, but this is also a story of consensus building, teamwork, hard learned lessons, and working across party lines. Discussing past struggles and the struggle ahead, the book offers both encouragement and warning.