Mayors and Public Education: The Case for Greater Involvement

Overview & Synopsis

Over the last generation, a new politics of education has evolved throughout the United States. Since the 1983 watershed report "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983), the country's most influential business and political leaders--and, more recently, mayors--have spearheaded efforts to improve student achievement in America's schools in unprecedented ways. Their concerns about the quality of education have been predicated on widespread apprehension that if its schools remained mediocre, the nation will be unable to compete in an increasingly competitive global economy (Friedman, 2005). In this article, the author discusses growing mayoral involvement in education. He also presents essays--written by some of the leading scholars studying mayoral engagement in education--which elaborate on the pros and cons of this phenomenon. These pieces amplify a variety of issues that are gaining attention as concerns persist about the quality of urban public education in an increasingly competitive global economy.