Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Public Schools, Paperback

Eminent historian and educator Larry Cuban provides a thorough examination of, and challenge to, past and present definitions of what constitutes educational success in the US. Cuban argues that in the history of American education, standards of achievement and inadequacy--as well as the reform efforts issuing from them--have been neither stable nor consistent. Nor are these standards untainted by political considerations. Rather, schools thrive or decline based on a variety of factors, including social and political dynamics, leadership in school districts and communities, and policy improvisations.

Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Public Schools features profiles of two California high schools, Social Justice Humanitas Academy and MetWest, that are grappling with what it means to be successful (or failing) in the current moment. Each school is expanding conventional views of achievement beyond standard measures, such as test scores, graduation rates, and college admissions. But even as these schools' missions, sense of community, and curricula create an innovative form of success, both remain bound by traditional criteria set forth by district policymakers, practitioners, and parents.

Through his exemplary research, Cuban illustrates how school reform is propelled by, and subject to, changing social and political fortunes. He maintains that this understanding offers educators an opportunity to re-envision school performance against an American value system that too often rewards individual merit and competitive capitalism.

In Chasing Success and Confronting Failure in American Public Schools, historian and educator Larry Cuban provides a thorough examination of, and challenge to, past and present definitions of what constitutes educational success in the United States. Cuban argues that schools thrive or decline based on a variety of factors, including social and political dynamics, leadership in school districts and communities, and policy improvisations.

The book features profiles of two California high schools that are grappling with what it means to succeed (or fail) in the current moment. Each school is expanding conventional views of achievement, yet both remain bound by traditional criteria set forth by district policy makers, practitioners, and parents.

"Larry Cuban's thoughtful analysis of what constitutes success and failure in education comes at a critical time. Cuban encourages us to think more deeply about the limitations of our current ideology, which harkens back to century-old ideas about efficiency based on business models. He knows we can do better in defining success for our children."
--Diane Ravitch, historian of education, New York University

"Schooling has long been punctuated by indictments of failing schools, pronouncements of what works, and heated debates over whether reform succeeded. With a clear eye and penetrating prose, Larry Cuban upends these familiar nostrums, exposing the assumptions and banalities that confound efforts to improve America's schools. Cuban is a national treasure, and this timely gem is a powerful reminder of why that is."
--Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies, American Enterprise Institute

"In this insightful book, Larry Cuban shows why school reform is so difficult. The most successful reform from the past--the age-graded school--embodies an array of values that we expect of real schools, so frontal assaults of this structure tend to fail. But he gives vivid examples of schools that can and do succeed in making significant changes in the 'grammar of schooling' while still remaining real schools."
--David F. Labaree, Lee L. Jacks Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford Graduate School of Education

Larry Cuban is professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.

Larry Cuban is professor emeritus of Education at Stanford University.