Public education in the United States has come under attack as of lately. School reform, school violence, common core, testing, college and career readiness, and school culture are just a few of the major topics in public education. For many Americans mention the phrase urban school and an image of a rundown building located in a poor section of the inner-city surrounded by violence, gangs, drugs, and populated with poor African American and Hispanic children (Jacob, 2007). “Many Americans believe that urban schools are failing to educate the students they serve. Even among people who think that schools are doing a good job overall there are those who believe that in certain schools, conditions are abysmal” (National Center for Education
