URBAN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

“When you look at a city,” remarked the famous American architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen, “it’s like reading the hopes, aspirations and pride of everyone who built it.” What better place in urban settings to lay the groundwork for realizing aspirations than in the schools? And it is there, in urban schools and districts, that Noguera’s “guardians of equity” leverage opportunities and meet challenges for the sake of each child’s future.

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The Center for Urban School Leadership (USL), one of nine UCEA Program Centers, is dedicated to supporting school/district leaders and leadership development programs/professors as they leverage the unique opportunities and overcome the difficult barriers found in urban settings. As with UCEA, USL strives to accomplish the mission through understanding the best practices and essential problems of urban schools; curating and producing research relevant to urban schools, districts, and leaders; developing supports for leadership preparation programs, particularly those advancing urban leaders; and to highlighting and advocating for any changes needed in policy and practice that affect the schools and leaders of our urban youth.