Current issues in public urban education

The 100 largest school districts in the United States educate 22.9 percent of our nation's K-12 students, yet they represent a mere 0.6 percent of the school districts serving these children. Often faced with older buildings and more children who are ''at risk'' for various reasons, urban districts face tremendous challenges in educating these youngsters. A number of educational reforms taking hold across the country offer promise for improvement. Implementation of site-based management, which allows officials and teachers at the school level to focus on the specific needs of the children for whom they are responsible, offers promise for improving schools across the nation, particularly in urban areas. Other reforms are not as well tested but also show promise. Today there are a number of successful schools in urban areas, giving hope that, in the future, more children in our largest cities will attend schools that offer them greater opportunities.