The improvement of urban schools is one of the major challenges facing practitioners and policy-makers today. Issues related to poverty create particular difficulties in urban schools, and the emphasis on market-led improvement strategies has tended to add to these challenges. In addition, strategies for 'raising standards', as measured by aggregate test and examination results, can result in marginalisation or exclusion of some groups of learners. Drawing on research evidence, Improving Urban Schools addresses the question of how primary and secondary urban schools can be improved in a more inclusive way. The authors argue that urban schools and their communities have within them expertise that tends to be overlooked, and latent creativity that should be mobilised to move thinking and progress forward. They show that new approaches to leadership, various forms of collaborative school-to-school partnerships, and major changes in national policy development are needed to make use of this untapped energy. The book includes vivid accounts of these activities to shed light on what really happens in urban schools, and presents practical strategies for school leaders and practitioners who want to make a difference in urban schools.

1: The challenge of urban school improvement Mel West and Mel Ainscow 2: The experience of failure in urban schools Maria Nicolaidou and Mel Ainscow 3: The development of leadership capacity in a school facing challenging circumstances Andrew Morley 4: Leading developments in practice: barriers and possibilities Mel Ainscow and Andy Howes 5: Achieving sustainable improvements in urban schools Mel West, Mel Ainscow and Jacqui Stanford 6: Confounding Stereotypes: risk, resilience and achievement in urban schools Helen Gunter 7: Moving practice forward at the district level Mel Ainscow, Andy Howes and Dave Tweddle 8: Supporting schools in difficult circumstance: the role of school-to-school cooperation Mel Ainscow, Mel West and Maria Nicolaidou 9: Moving leadership practice in schools forward Samantha Fox and Mel Ainscow 10: Collaboration with a city-wide purpose: making paths for sustainable educational improvement Andy Howes and Mel Ainscow 11: Beyond the school gates: context, disadvantage and 'urban schools' Alan Dyson 12: Drawing out the lessons: leadership and collaboration Mel Ainscow and Mel West