"I
Don't Want Your Nasty Pot of Gold":
Urban School Climate and Public Policy
Charles
M. Payne
Abstract
Few of the current major efforts to improve urban
schools adequately appreciate the extent to which the problematic
social climate of urban schools can undermine the implementation
of even very good ideas. Thus, program after program comes and goes
with little lasting impact. This paper uses ethnographic fieldwork
to illustrate the ways dysfunctional relationships among teachers,
parents and administrators can interfere with the actual implementation
of reform programs even when all parties are substantially in agreement
about goals and means. The operating assumptions underlying several
current reform efforts are contrasted with the day-to-day realities
of schools.
Charles M. Payne, Department
of African-American Studies, Northwestern University
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