Chapter 1: The Contexts of Urban Settings

Abstract

Undertaking pedagogical research in urban settings is not at all like conducting similar research in other settings. In a recent study in middle schools, we arranged the research team, sought and obtained various permissions to conduct the study, and met with the teachers over the summer to prepare. In the fall, 3 weeks after the start of school, the district announced that owing to decreased enrollments it was going to close at least fi ve schools and terminate 33 teachers by December. One of the teachers in the study had just been hired. He was the least-senior person in physical education in the district, had taken a mortgage out on a home, and was getting married mid-fall. Months went by without his knowing whether he would be teaching physical education in the New Year. During this time, the district was frantically offering early retirements, reassignments, and other incentives to teachers in order to deal with the districtʼs budgetary crisis. Another teacher involved in the study found herself starting the year with a block schedule format, but this was followed 3 weeks later with changes in schedule, class size, and class membership. Her students were frustrated and confused, as were parents, teachers, and administrators. The conditions that students, parents, teachers, and administrators experienced are a product of economic, political, and social infl uences that impact the day-to-day operation of urban schools. One cannot understand the context of urban schools in the United States without considering the economic, political, and social infl uences that have made urban settings what they are today. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the educational contexts of urban schools so that readers can best understand the research studies in this monograph. The chapter begins with a brief history of urbanization and the sociopolitical policies that have infl uenced urban schools. We then discuss the particular context of the Columbus Public Schools (CPS), where the studies reported in this monograph