Urban education is an interdisciplinary field characterized by introducing many perspectives
to research pertaining to educational policy and to the practice of educating youth whose lives
unfold in densely populated urban metropolitan areas. This book celebrates Constance Clayton's
eleven-year tenure as superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia ending in 1993
following which an endowed chair was established in Dr. Clayton's honor at the University of
Pennsylvania and later the Clayton lecture series was inaugurated. The chair was the first
named for an African American woman at a predominantly White Ivy League U.S. university. The
lecture series upon which this book is based provides a forum for teachers researchers and
scholars to evaluate and discuss key concepts and issues in urban education. Collectively the
lectures summarize important developments in a post-Brown vs. Board of Education era of
educational thought (1998-2010) about what is in the best interests of urban youth.
