Making Schools Work

Marcus Foster first gained notoriety for his spectacularly successful transformation of two of Philadelphia’s worst schools. He brought new school pride and enthusiasm to the students and faculty, brought parents and local businesses into school activities, and pressured the Board of Education into funding new programs and facilities. Foster was Philadelphia’s Man of the Year for 1968 and received prestigious awards from the NAACP and other organizations.

Although Foster was a strict, no-nonsense educator, he was no conservative and no political suckup (patronizer). He criticized the institutional racism of the school system and worked hard to both celebrate ethnic diversity and have it reflected in the positions of power within the educational hierarchy.

Faced with a soaring dropout rate, nonexistent school morale, and plummeting proficiency scores, the Oakland, California School District sought out Foster to fill the position of superintendent. Foster took Oakland by storm. His reforms were as effective as they were drastic. He decentralized the 90-school school system into three separate regions and gave each an associate superintendent with a local office. He brought about previously unheard of student, parent, and teacher involvement and reach out across racial lines in the diverse Oakland community. Proficiency scores soared, the dropout rate fell, and morale was boosted radically.

“The book you have before you reflects this style of exposition. Basically, it is a book of incidents which, hopefully, get at some of the important problems in education today.” ~ Marcus A. Foster

Alex Haley contributed to Making Schools Work: Strategies for Changing Education by writing the foreword.