In the past we often thought of cities as the marketplace of ideas, the citadel of culture, the location of lighthouse schools and programs, and the center of commerce. Now we are more likely to think of conflict, growing violence, despair, and high populations of disadvantaged students. The word "urban" has lost its sparkle.
For most children in the United States, the first day of school is one of endless possibilities and unknown adventures. Unfortunately, for millions born into poverty, it is a day of diminished expectations and unequal opportunity.
Clearly, we cannot accept the status quo. We must take responsibility for educating the children of the urban poor, and we can begin by recognizing current educational failure and committing to do things differently. Focused educational change that gives special attention to issues affecting urban learners can help these students achieve academic success and lifelong productivity.
Tapping the full potential of urban learners will require strong collaborative actions by educators and concerned citizens alike. Those actions include changing the mindset that prevails in a large segment of American society. Urban students must be seen not as a liability, but as a major ingredient in achieving educational excellence, a strong national economy, and a viable democratic society.
ASCD's Role
ASCD recognizes quality education as a pathway out of poverty and its social, economic, and physical devastation. The Association has embodied that recognition in a primary strategic goal: "By the year 2001, ASCD will have mobilized resources to ensure that schools serving children of the poor have equal access to, and appropriate opportunity for wide use and effective implementation of, highest quality services and products." By making this organizational commitment, we have extended ASCD beyond its traditional boundaries.
With this impetus, ASCD convened the Urban Education Advisory Board (UEAB) in September 1993 to develop a plan to ensure that children of poverty, particularly those in the inner cities, enjoy equal access to quality education. The 30 members of the UEAB are drawn from the fields of research, theory, practice, and philanthropy in the United States and abroad; and they are diverse in their abilities and experiences. With their participation, the UEAB is uniquely poised to develop comprehensive and far-reaching recommendations.
- develop a comprehensive, collaborative effort that addresses the key concerns in urban education;
- develop a sustained, broad-based urban reform agenda involving an array of stakeholders;
- promote the exchange of research-based teaching and learning practices;
- foster improved teaching and learning conditions for practitioners and students;
- promote ongoing, building-based professional development experiences; and
- encourage application of new research to teaching and learning in urban school centers.
In the past, lack of collaboration has been a major barrier to the successful dissemination and use of knowledge that could help improve urban education. Therefore, chief among the UEAB's accomplishments has been an ongoing survey of several hundred national and international organizations and programs pursuing high-impact, systemic reform initiatives. The survey findings will help the UEAB identify what "works" in urban education reform, as well as target potential collaborators.
Power and Potential
Educational change, in the end, must be systemic. It requires the collective energy of educators, researchers, legislators, and citizens. The most effective support of urban education lies in an all-embracing collaboration of stakeholders in every sector of society. An important part of the UEAB's mission is to concentrate these resources and translate them into action.
ASCD's urban education initiative and the UEAB's role in advancing it are based on the belief that we can and will accelerate the benefits that urban education can bring to the lives of individual learners, to the communities in which they live, and to the greater enrichment of society. United, we can realize the power and potential inherent in urban education.