Race, Class, and Cultural Reproduction: Critical Theories in Urban Education

In spite of decades of reform attempts urban education remains an intractable policy issue for educators. National and state level data continue to show disparities in educational achievement and attainment between students from affluent and poor urban communities. If past policies have not proven to be effective in substantially improving urban educational systems the question is why? In this paper the argument is raised that urban educational policies lack sound epistemological grounding. Policies are divorced from an understanding of the “urban problematic”. Functionalist in orientation these policies have for the most part sought to “fix” urban schools by focusing on microecological issues. In this paper three theoretical perspectives are explored for their potential contribution to inform research and policy on urban educational issues. The three perspectives are: 1) class theories 2) critical race theory and 3) cultural reproduction theories.