ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that high school US history curriculum, as represented in widely used textbooks, excises and thereby defines out of existence radical responses American workers have had to the problems they face on the job and in their communities. This educational excision is one way that schooling mitigates against the development of working-class consciousness. The chapter describes education policy over the seventy-five years of Harvard Educational Review publication. During the decades, many K–12 policies have been written and implemented by federal, state, and local governments. The chapter also argues that the quality of education in city schools is a complex problem, and education policy as historically conceived has not been adequate to the task of increasing urban school achievement to acceptable levels. It examines relationships among education policy, the economy, and achievement in urban schools. The chapter provides indirect and direct research evidence that increased family supports such as financial resources and less segregated neighborhoods raise educational achievement.
