Table Of ContentReforming Boston Schools,
1930 to the Present
Palgrave Studies in Urban Education
Series Editors: Alan R. Sadovnik and Susan F. Semel
Reforming Boston Schools, 1930–2006: Overcoming Corruption and Racial
Segregation
By Joseph Marr Cronin (April 2008)
What Mothers Say about Special Education: From the 1960s to the Present
By Jan W. Valle (March 2009)
Charter Schools: From Reform Imagery to Reform Reality
By Jeanne M. Powers (June 2009)
Becoming an Engineer in Public Universities: Pathways for Women and Minorities
Edited by Kathryn M. Borman, Will Tyson, and Rhoda H. Halperin
(May 2010)
Multiracial Urban High School: Fearing Peers and Trusting Friends
Susan Rakosi Rosenbloom (October 2010)
Reforming Boston Schools, 1930 to the Present: Overcoming Corruption and Racial
Segregation (updated paperback edition of Reforming Boston Schools,
1930–2006)
By Joseph Marr Cronin (August 2011)
The History of “Zero Tolerance” in American Public Schooling
By Judith Kafka (forthcoming)
Reforming Boston Schools,
1930 to the Present
Overcoming Corruption and
Racial Segregation
Joseph Marr Cronin
REFORMING BOSTON SCHOOLS, 1930 TO THE PRESENT
Copyright © Joseph Marr Cronin, 2008.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008978–0–230–60401–8
All rights reserved.
First published in hardcover in 2008 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-0-230-11145-5 ISBN 978-0-230-61109-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230611092
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cronin, Joseph M.
Reforming Boston schools, 1930 to the present : overcoming corruption
and racial segregation / Joseph Marr Cronin.
p. cm.—(Palgrave studies in urban education)
Rev. ed. of: Reforming Boston schools, 1930–2006. 2008.
1. Schools—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies.
2. Educational change—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies.
3. Discrimination in education—Massachusetts—Boston—Case
studies. 4. School integration—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies.
5. Educational equalization—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies.
6. Education, Urban—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies. 7. African
Americans—Education—Massachusetts—Boston—Case studies.
I. Cronin, Joseph M. Reforming Boston schools, 1930–2006. II. Title.
LA306.B7C76 2011
379.2(cid:2)60973—dc23 2011017643
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First PALGRAVE MACMILLAN paperback edition: August 2011
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Mentors: Owen B. Kiernan,
Herold C. Hunt, H. Thomas James
Former Doctoral Students: William Leary,
Charles Glenn, Diana Lam, Steve Leonard,
Charles Leftwich, Robert Schwartz, Thomas Payzant
Contents
Acknowledgments viii
Series Editors’ Preface ix
Introduction: Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Leave,
Speak Up, or Stay 1
Chapter 1 Boston Schools: The Height of Loyalty
and Ethnic Exits (1920–40) 5
Chapter 2 Boston Teachers Express Their Voices (1920–65) 29
Chapter 3 School Reform Postponed (1940–62) 47
Chapter 4 Black Voices for Equal Education, and the
White Response (1960–74) 63
Chapter 5 The Court Orders Reforms (1974–89) 95
Chapter 6 Universities Speak Up 129
Chapter 7 The Organized Teacher Voice (1965 to the Present) 151
Chapter 8 Business Calls for Educational Improvements 185
Chapter 9 Future Choices, Disparate Voices 209
Notes 249
Bibliography 271
Index 279
About the Author 287
Acknowledgments
This book grew out of the 1968–70 Danforth study of schools in five
major American cities. New discussions began in 1985 with James Fraser,
dean of the Northeastern University School of Education and a historian
of American education. Ralph Edwards provided insights from research
on the selection of Boston’s first black superintendent and the campaign
to appoint the Boston School Committee. Richard Hailer, Sam Tyler,
Patricia Graham, Ken Rossano, Kathleen Kelly, Ed Doherty, Steve Coan,
Larry DiCara, Susan Moore Johnson, Kim Marshall, Betty Power, Sylvia
Simmons, James Buckley, Charlotte Harris, Robert Consalvo, Robert
Dentler, and Robert Binswanger reviewed portions of the manuscript. The
cover photo was by Tim Cronin.
Other support came from former state Commissioner of Education
Owen B. Kiernan, H. Thomas James of Stanford University, Luvern
Cunningham of Ohio State University, Allan K. Campbell of Syracuse
University, Herold Hunt of Harvard University, Don Davies of Boston
University, and Blenda Wilson of the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.
Sources of ideas included Michael Usdan, Frank Lutz, W. Deane Wiley,
Jay Scribner, Dick Hailer, Peter Horoschak, Robert Peterkin, David
Tyack, Theodore Sizer, Frank Keppel, Jeff Raffel, Brook Derr, and Larry
Iannacone. The research and editorial assistance of Gina Sartori of
Northeastern University and help offered by James Burnham of Harvard
were especially valuable. Marie Cronin and our children were very sup-
portive of my work.
The following leaders provided interviews on developments from 2006
to 2011: Superintendent Carol Johnson, Ellen Guiney, Neil Sullivan, Sam
Tyler, John Mudd, and Hubie Jones. These readers critiqued drafts: Paul
Reville, Ellen Guiney, John Mudd, Bob Peterkin, Bob Gittens, Maritta
Cronin, Charles Glenn, Sam Tyler, and Larry DiCara.
Series Editors’ Preface
The Palgrave Series in Urban Education is dedicated to the examination of
important issues related to the history, sociology, economics, philosophy,
and politics of urban education and schools. Over the past century, urban
education has been the subject of significant controversies with policies
aimed at urban school improvement vigorously debated, especially over
the last forty years. Since the 1960s, as cities became increasingly poor and
populated by minority groups, urban schools have reflected the problems
associated with poverty. Although rural and many suburban schools have
similar problems, urban schools represent the most serious challenges.
As urban areas became increasingly poor and segregated, their school
systems exhibited many problems, including low student achievement, high
student mobility, high dropout rates, and high levels of school failure. Since
the 1960s, the achievement gaps based on social class, race, ethnicity, and
gender have been the focus of educational policy, especially in urban areas.
The reasons for the differences in achievement are complex, including
factors both outside and inside the schools. Despite these problems, there
are also numerous examples of highly successful urban schools and some
successes at district-wide reform. Improving entire school systems has none-
theless proven difficult. Over the past two decades, a variety of educational
policies have been implemented to replicate these schools and reforms and
to improve urban schools and entire districts. These include school finance
litigation, comprehensive whole school reform programs, effective school
models, school choice, including charter schools and private school vouch-
ers and state takeover of failing urban districts.
These educational reforms have the potential to improve urban schools
and districts; however, many argue that by themselves they are limited in
reducing the achievement gaps unless they also address the factors outside
of schools responsible for educational inequalities. Given these issues, the
Palgrave Series in Urban Education is dedicated to understanding the com-
plex nature of urban education and school improvement.
Reforming Boston Schools, 1930 to the Present: Overcoming Corruption and
Racial Segregation by Joseph Marr Cronin provides an important historical
