Prospects for Grassroots Influence: Can We Be Realistic Without Being Fatalistic?

In The Fight for America’s Schools, Barbara Ferman and her coauthors show parents and communities mobilizing in new and effective ways to resist or reconfigure threats imposed in the name of education reform. In this reflection on the volume, I discuss ways in which the political terrain has been changing and why these changes make the traditional model of organizing—neighborhood-based, localized, focused on education-specific arenas—problematic. Finally, taking off from the ideas and examples presented in the Ferman volume, I sketch out a more optimistic portrayal of why and how new approaches have a chance to succeed.