The Transformation of Great American School Districts provides fascinating portraits of the governance changes now occurring in America’s major urban school systems, along with a trenchant discussion of the extent to which these changes signal a new direction for American education. The book will make a strong contribution to research on the politics of education in the United States and shows the promise of applying insights from the new institutionalism to research on educational governance.       — Brian Rowan, Burke A. Hinsdale Collegiate Professor in Education and Research Professor, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

An important analysis of the evolution of urban education and some provocative ideas about what might be next. Whether your interest is urban schools or American education more generally, you’ll learn from this book.       — Andrew J. Rotherham , Co-Director of Education Sector, Member of the Virginia Board of Education, and Author of Eduwonk.com

This cogent collection employs a cultural/historical lens to assess the challenges communities face in their decades-long struggles to transform failing urban school systems. These groundbreaking reflections make a persuasive case for devoting more attention to the political, cultural, and social dimensions of district reinvention—an endeavor that is often treated as a technical challenge alone.       — Warren Simmons, Executive Director, Annenberg Institute for School Reform