University Leadership in Urban School Renewal (review)

Nancy Zimpher, president of the University of Cincinnati, and Kenneth Howey, research professor in teacher education at the University of Cincinnati, bring to their edited volume direct and practical experience regarding their book's topic of improving urban education via university collaborations. The intent of the book is to showcase how the actions of urban university presidents directly impacts and supports public school teachers and, ultimately, students. Contributors to the volume include 14 presidents whose colleges belong to the coalition of Great Cities' Universities (GCU). The 19 member institutions of the GCU serve almost 350,000 diverse students, providing a strong lever of change for improving the education of the nation's most vulnerable students.

Howey and Zimpher set the context for the book in their introductory chapter. They establish 15 priorities that identify ways in which presidents and chancellors can exert leadership to aid in improving K-12 education. Their framework groups priorities into three areas of foci: programmatic change, organizational change, and leadership and partnering. The extensive list provides a roadmap for university leaders interested in making change a reality in urban settings. Arguably, the concepts can apply to other change initiatives that require collaboration and partnerships. The rationale for the need for K-16 links in urban areas is made on moral grounds—each case chapter provides a background of the high percentage of urban youth in free-lunch programs, urban households living in poverty, the revolving door of urban teachers, issues of qualified urban teachers, and the anticipated crisis of teacher shortages resulting from impending retirements.

The case study format of the 14 chapters authored by the GCU university presidents provides a context for the issues facing their institutions and associated urban areas. The unique voice of each president and their institution's culture is evident. Readers from different regions of the country will no doubt find ways to connect to the university chapter that highlights a familiar area.

A strength of the book includes the presentation of real partnerships and recent examples of successful collaborations between universities, urban public schools, and community organizations. The best practices highlighted present a blueprint for replication. The asset of having the diverse background and stories from each of the 14 contributors, however, is also a weakness since there is not a consistency in case style or theoretical underpinnings. In addition, what remains unanswered is if the partnerships will result in sustained change.

The chapter authored by editor Nancy Zimpher highlights practices of systemic change. She focuses on the role of chancellor as advocate and convener. As in her co-authored introductory chapter, a list of strategies outlines the garnering of support of the Milwaukee Partnership Academy (MPA), an educational partnership including business and industry, the university, and the public schools. Zimpher presents ten partnership design elements based on experiences with the MPA. A key focus of this chapter is the emphasis of creating shared understanding.

Chapter 8, written by President Martha Gilliland of the University of Missouri-Kansas City provides an especially good outline of ways in which a college president can elicit transformative changes. What is particularly useful in this chapter is how Gilliland addresses the idea of how college presidents learn to lead. Issues of cultural change underlie her presentation of ideas for creating frame-breaking changes. Cultural change requires time, a factor that many of the chapter authors pointed out as a challenge in keeping a sustained focus on pressing issues impacting teaching in urban areas.

The final chapter of the book, written by Zimpher and Howey, bookends the writing by presenting a summary of six leadership practices necessary for heading up complex change. The practices include: creating a vision, engaging the university, engaging the community, taking action, being accountable, and committing to long-term change. The notion of engaging the university and the community is reminiscent of Boone and associates (1997) who wrote on community-based programming in community colleges...