Marketing Schools, Marketing Cities: Who Wins and Who Loses When Schools Become Urban Amenities

A very important and well-written book that complicates narratives about "bottom-up" versus "top-down" approaches to school reform. Cucchiara really knows - and cares about - her topic. This book is a "must read" for all principals and teachers in neighborhood schools as well as community and civic and political leaders who have any influence over education policy.

Cucchiara provides a thoughtful and fair assessment of the tensions and trade-offs of increasing middle-class parental involvement in urban public school districts. She carefully lays out the genesis of urban and educational challenges in Philadelphia, and traces the history of interventions. Her ethnographic accounts create a rich narrative and open up critical questions about policy in large urban school districts.

I am happy that I purchased this book because it helped me to get a clearer understanding of privitazation and marketing of schools. I highly recommend it.

exactly what i needed for my course, i study urban education as my master's major

Brilliant assessment of a complex issue. Well organize and clearly presented by the author which stimulated an excellent discussion of the interaction of class and education in today's cities.