Epstein, Kitty Kelly. (2006). A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory, and Unexplored Realities. Reviewed by Ishwanzya Rivers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Epstein, Kitty Kelly. (2006). A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory, and Unexplored Realities. N.Y.: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Pp. 144     ISBN 0-8204-7879-2 Reviewed by Ishwanzya Rivers University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign October 6, 2007 Also see Jamel K. Donnor's review of this book. Using her passion for education, social justice, and civil rights, Kitty Kelly Epstein, an Oakland area educator, parent, and researcher uses her relationship with the Oakland school district to construct a historical case study of one urban school district involved in civil rights, local control, and curriculum battles. A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory, and Unexplored Realities (2006) examines racial and economic issues faced by the Oakland school district and its elected school board. Dr. Epstein describes what she calls the “alternate” issues of education (e.g., curriculum, teachers, financial decisions, and control of the local school district) that enable academic success because “Americans expect schools to be fair, to provide opportunity, justice, skills, and enlightenment” (p. 2). Epstein uses the events (e.g., attempted state takeover, the Ebonics debate, and statewide tracking) of the Oakland school district to investigate and analyze the challenges faced by other urban school districts and demonstrates how American institutions replicate racism, power, and privilege. Epstein provides a different view of urban schools by challenging the strongly held myth that “urban schools were o.k. in the good old days” (p. 3) prior to the 1960s Civil Rights movement that promoted integration and diversity. The belief is based on the premise that the conditions of the 1960s brought chaos, violence, corruption, and dysfunction to urban schools, and as a result, responsible people including those in state and federal governments, academics, and businesses, have been forced to intervene to save the children attending these schools (p. 4). A Different View of Urban Schools was written to show that “public schools, especially urban schools, were not good before the 1960s, at least not for the Latino, African American, and Asian students who attended them. The book was also written to show that intense but little known civil rights battles took place in many Northern cities; the post 1960s school boards which resulted from these struggles did not “screw up” the schools but within existing constraints, made progress on equity issues; these equity policies have produced some advances in civil rights and cultural sensitivity; urban school districts were increasingly constrained by state and federal policies and then direct intervention; and the logic, structures, and practices of American racism flow throughout both the history and the current period” (p. 3). Underlying her manifold purpose, Epstein wants to encourage educational debates that challenge traditional liberal and conservative rhetoric and to do this she expresses five, basic unchanging and generally unmentioned realities about U.S. education, which are: The U.S. is a capitalist country. The entire U.S. education system sits on a structure of tests and sorting invented by members of the Eugenics movement who believed Northern European whites to be smarter than everyone else. Democracy is limited. The more white and affluent the parents of a particular group of children, the more likely they will have real influence over expenditures, curriculum, school structure, and personnel selection. When districts with less affluent citizens make different decisions about these issues, their power to make the decisions is increasingly circumscribed. There is no single public. There are actually four different American systems: the somewhat responsive suburban and middle class public system; the urban systems, many of which have been taken over by outside state, federal, or private interests; the system of private and parochial schools for working class and urban children which are not well-funded but are still somewhat responsive to their local communities; and the system of elite private schools to which the wealthy send their own children but which are required to follow none of the rules and procedures which have been established to control the schools attended by the poor. Nevertheless, American students, parents, labor union, civil rights groups, and community groups have on many occasions successfully challenged the structures and policies that result from the first four realities. Epstein urges that by understanding these realities educators and parents are able to make informed and conscientious decisions about education. As the title of the book suggests, Epstein employs critical race theory as her theoretical framework to emphasize the deeply embedded racism within every institution in American society especially the education system. She defines the important contentions of critical race theory as “defining race as a salient aspect of U.S. society and education; racism is rooted in property relations; and racism is permanent in U.S. society” (p. 6). She insists that by using critical race theory as a theoretical foundation we are better able to look at urban schools and actually understand that the problems we think are inherent to this type of school are actually problems that are inherent to a racist society (e.g., achievement gap). Her historical case study rests on the foundation of Marxist methods, which imply a historical, dialectical, and materialist investigation, allowing her to look at an individual phenomenon (the Oakland school board) within the totality of all phenomena (national education systems). She uses Marxist methods to gain a deeper and broader understanding of the place of urban schools in U.S. society and to bring a historical outlook to educational debates, filling an important void in current discussions. Marxist methods are also employed to help the reader understand that educational functions do not operate in isolation from other social functions. Using Paulo Friere’s ideology that schools are sites of struggle, Epstein concludes, “schools in this period are a preeminent place of social struggle in the U.S.” (p.2) and it is the awareness of this struggle that guides the thoughts and ideas in this discussion of the Oakland school district. Also Friere’s notion of schools as places where people struggle for justice provides critical hope that even though educational systems are embedded within a broader system of racist political and economic power they can in fact elicit change. Using the aforementioned theories, Epstein presents her examination of urban schools by beginning with a revisionist history, noting the often-ignored racial dynamics of northern cities. She then proceeds with the struggles and contradictions of urban districts, particularly addressing the control of monetary expenditures, which occurred after African Americans finally had enough political clout to make decisions about their urban schools. Finally, she looks at the generally ignored accomplishments of urban school boards under minority leadership. While the specific focus of A Different View is the Oakland school district, the author uses it as a lens to view other urban school districts that have experienced or are currently experiencing similar issues. Having set the tone of the book, Epstein uses chapter two to take the reader on a journey through pre-1960s Oakland to look closely at the assumption that urban school districts have declined in the last quarter century and are providing a less adequate education than in a previous era. In proposing an alternate history of urban schools, she also exposes racist policies established during earlier years of the school district, such as employing IQ testing as a means of “tracking” the entire district. Using archival data and personal interviews she highlights the corruption and manipulation of early leaders and politicians and how the connection between politics and education led to a stratified, segregated school system in Oakland. Relaying heavily on the tenets of critical race theory, chapter two exposes the hidden and not so hidden layers of racism and discrimination in the early Oakland school district. Demonstrating the responsiveness of the residents of color to discriminatory practices, policies, and ideologies, chapter three describes in detail the beginning of civil rights’ activist groups’ in Oakland efforts to tackle discrimination and racism in the education arena. Chapter three also looks at community efforts and involvement in obtaining racial representation among teachers, in redrawing attendance boundaries to circumvent segregated schools, and having community participation in the selection process of the superintendent. In detailing the actions of the groups from elections and meetings to picketing, sit-ins, and arrests, Epstein shows how the coalitions of activists were able to elicit substantive forms of change in their local school district. By offering a cursory glance at the coalition building and activist mobilizing, readers are left to draw the conclusion that Oakland’ residents were not passive by-standers while flagrant acts of discrimination took place. Chapter four, “Civil Rights and State Takeovers,” gives us the story of the Oakland school board defeating a state takeover of the school district. While highlighting the Oakland school district, Epstein explores a nationwide struggle occurring in predominantly low-income African American and Latino school districts. She uses this chapter to show that despite the gains made in integrating school boards and diversifying local control, state governments found a new way to disenfranchise the people of urban cities by using failing test scores and financial crises to wrangle away their elected control. Detailing the historical events leading up to the 1988 attempted takeover, Epstein makes clear the racial and financial implications of the proposed takeover. She argues that state takeovers did not occur until the late 1980s when most urban school boards were either integrated or completely minority and that these takeovers happened in cities where the student population was and still is predominantly low income Blacks and Latinos. She also points out that these takeovers were in cities that did not vote to give up its local board and voiced strong opposition to the takeover. While many cities did succumb to hostile state takeovers, the Oakland school district was able to defeat the proposed takeover through strong coalition building and support, sound financial practices, and competent leadership. Epstein states that “the attempted takeover is important because it was defeated by organized opposition in the city; it played out as an interesting example of the principles elaborated by critical race theory; and the local school board took important civil rights actions in the fifteen years following its defeat of the state takeover” (p. 40). Well-run school districts are not impossible under minority leadership and chapter five provides a great deal of evidence through the changes enacted by the school board. The underlying purpose of this chapter is to document the structural changes the minority-run school board tackled and to highlight important civil right actions taken by the board in the midst of negative press coverage. Once again Epstein draws the reader back to debates that captured national attention (i.e., the Algebra project). In an attempt to rid itself of years of institutional racism, the school board proposed a resolution to stop “ability-based” tracking. While the school board ended the bottom “remedial” track, they came face to face with the reality that tracking is strategically imbedded in all curricula from “gifted” to “special education” and the monetary value associated with these “tracked” classes makes it hard to totally rid the system of tracking. The school board weighed in on another equity issue when it decided in 1991 to reject the adoption of a new social studies reader that it found irrelevant, inconsistent, and detrimental to its students. This battle showcased the importance of textbook material and how literature can reinforce stereotypical and derogatory images. “Oakland residents organized intensively against the books” (p. 64). This chapter once again shows the resiliency of Oakland residents to battle and triumph discriminatory and racist practices. Exploring the teacher shortage in urban schools, chapter six argues that 1) that a major factor in urban school ineffectiveness and, sometimes, chaos is a set of state and federal laws which prevent urban schools from hiring those adult college graduates who have proven effectiveness working with students in urban schools; 2) that the lack of urban school teachers in general and “minority” teachers in particular is erroneously understood as a recruitment problem; 3) that the real causes rest on a racially skewed set of criteria for the initial selection of teachers; 4) that the selection system has its roots in white American racism, both institutional and ideological; 5) that the erection of an equitable teacher selection system will require struggle by those adversely affected by the present system; 6) and that an equitable and educationally effective system would select candidates first on the basis of effectiveness in the classroom and would then require each to add to his or her knowledge base those elements missing in his or her undergraduate education. Criticizing No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Epstein blames the shortage on the NCLB provision that demands “highly qualified” teachers in every school district. She argues that this provision has created a situation where there are no teachers at all for many of the lowest income students. She proceeds to ask, “What does it mean for a teacher to be qualified? Why do urban districts have a shortage? Whose fault is it? What are the ultimate consequences? And what are the general solutions” (p. 69)? Epstein picks apart the teacher shortage debate by first highlighting that the lack of minority teachers is not a recruitment problem but is actually the problem of a certification and selection process that favors nonminority applicants. She adds that by not certifying minority applicants who are willing to teach in urban schools and who would be most effective, state policies and regulations contribute to the nationwide shortage of teachers. Tracking the requirements of teachers across school types and social class, A Different View shows that wealthy private schools are not tied to credentialing laws, allowing those schools to hire college graduates who have a genuine passion for teaching, resulting in no shortage of teachers. Suburban schools, while tied to credential rules, have their pick of certified teachers; as a result they are not at a loss for teachers. Urban schools are not allowed to hire passionate teachers without any credentials and they cannot find enough people with credentials to teach in their schools. This results in many schools with no teachers. The certification process has ultimately led to the whitening of the teaching force, which according to Epstein highlights America’s history of institutional racism. Epstein uses the teacher shortage to point out the glaring effects of institutional racism but also to urge resistance to racism so that the power of education can be realized. While ultimately presenting a different view of the reasons for a teacher shortage in urban schools, chapter six also raises pertinent questions about the certification and selection process and its impact on would be minority teachers and minority students. Faced with a teacher shortage for reasons described in chapter six, “Oakland employed college graduates who were effective with students but had not yet achieved credentialed status” (p. 89). Chapter seven is an overview of Oakland’s Partnership Program. In an attempt to rectify the teacher shortage as well as the lack of minority teachers, the Oakland school board developed a three-pronged approach which would help new teachers maintain a paid job while working on the credential, create a recruitment, instruction, and support system run primarily by African American, Latino, and Asian educators and help with test fees and test preparation through nurturing assistance. The Partnership Program substantially increased the number of minority teachers in the Oakland school and subsequently became the model for other “alternative certification” programs in California. Acknowledging a need to challenge the current teacher education program, Epstein also presents a reform program. This program outlines an eight-step solution to what she feels are the true causes for the teacher shortage in urban schools. Chapter eight analyzes power and politics, a major theme of the book, through the discussion of the Ebonics struggle that took place the Oakland school district. While acknowledging that this was an enormous struggle against who gets to define language as “right” or “wrong,” “proper” or “improper,” Epstein only looks at the Ebonics debate for its contribution as a civil rights victory for the school board and the relationship of the victory to the racially constructed image that people in Oakland were incompetent to rule themselves. Epstein’s decision to concentrate on these two factors further strengthens her belief in the critical race theory tenet that racism is rooted in property relations, who owns the language and its usage. The Ebonics debate wasn’t solely about educating African American students and communicating with them, it was about power and control, and Epstein points that out in this chapter. “The Ebonics resolution hit two racial nerves: the idea that all dialects are equal in origin and communicative potential and the lurking, unstated notion that the black dialect is evolving in its communicative power about a subject which is ignored in standard American dialect—the evolving nature of racial injustice” (p. 104). Chapter nine looks at the situations where the contradictions in providing quality education are visible. According to Epstein, contradictions in education are a result of the fact that schools have a positive and a negative function for the average non-affluent urban student and their parents. Schools provide a service, because they are a place to obtain skills and knowledge; they also act as a social sorter, moving some students forward in society and holding some back, generally along racial and class lines. Most urban families need the service and are harmed by the sorting (p. 106). Using this statement as an anchor, Epstein uses “standards” testing, teacher actions, and No Child Left Behind to provide concrete examples of the contradictory nature of education. She concludes chapter nine with the statement that “the educational system is unjust, but the ideas and the struggles which emerge within that system can provide the momentum for change in education and sometimes in the broader society” (p. 115). This statement serves as the launching pad for the concluding chapter of the book that discusses broad-ranging policy struggles of urban schools. Chapter ten asks the question, if Oakland has a solid history of civil rights commitment, why doesn’t it have great schools throughout its system? The answer lies in (critical race theory that) “the harmful fictions of colorblind liberalism, the web of rights afforded to whites because of their race, and the unwillingness to acknowledge racism as a factor in both the conditions and the policies surrounding urban school districts” (p. 120). This question and answer leads Epstein to devise A People’s Program for Educational Change that lays out a thorough plan of how educational change can be achieved through a list of do’s and don’ts that challenges assumptions and myths and provides direction to current reform efforts. Epstein argues that the most important educational standard is “a love of learning, a spirit of community, and a sense of joy in individual and collective accomplishments” (p. 124) and this standard should be kept in mind for any proposed reform. A Different View of Urban Schools: Civil Rights, Critical Race Theory, and Unexplored Realities (2006) is a call to action for anyone remotely interested in the democratic nature of public education. It strives to offer a different approach to the study of urban school districts by looking at the struggles of the elected school board officials. As a result this is not your conventional presentation of urban schools. While highlighting what others call the problems of urban schools, Epstein uses the Oakland school district to show the resiliency of administrators dedicated to providing education based on equality, quality, and academic standards. It is Epstein’s belief in educational standards that she has crafted a book that serves as a practical guide for social change in education. She also lays out a historical roadmap to remind us that there are not any new educational problems; the old problems are just reformulated, recycled, and repackaged. By acknowledging the institutionalized racism of the education system, Epstein has succeeded in crafting a book that intricately explores the accepted myths of urban education and in turn reveals a strategic plan of action for making education a civil right. About the Reviewer Ishwanzya "Kisha" Rivers Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 360 Education Bldg, MC 708 1310 S. Sixth Street, Champaign IL 61820