ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the “who” of groups of people residing in urban communities, along with a dissected look into “where” such individuals are located in their places of residence, as well as within the American public education system. Urban education grew out of an organizational revolution that brought broad systemic changes to academic institutions and the politics involved in educational reform. Industrialization led to the need for schools to evolve in keeping with the new technological developments and economic advancements at large, particularly to provide more structure and organization for substantial population growth. It is useful to examine the interplay of citizenship ideals and economic aspirations in the theoretical discourse that frame education in the United States. The public education system in the United States has struggled to effectively ascertain the humanity and needs of American children from a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds – arguably, since its conception.
