http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/418095

Urban School Chiefs Under Fire

This study examines three veteran urban school superintendents who were highly respected by their colleagues but who came under intense pressure from forces outside the school systems in the 1960'S. Chapter 1 explores the context of the desegregation controversy and the furor over an independent evaluation that faced Benjamin C. Willis in Chicago. The second chapter describes Carl Hansen's responses in Washington, D.C. to federally funded efforts to change the public schools and sharp pressure to desegregate. San Francisco is the focus of the third chapter, in which a curricular fracas triggered by news of Russia's launching of the Sputnik and a concerted drive to desegregate the schools are examined as two instances of pressure that confronted Harold Spears. Chapter four compares and contrasts the three political contexts, school organizations, and pressure groups. The origin and development of the urban superintendency during tha last century is investigated in chapter five, in order to determine how big city school men have perceived their roles. The final chapter presents several theories to clarify further the responses of the three school superintendents examined in the study. (Author/JM).

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