Urban Education by Dr. Bradley W. Poos

Kansas City’s Central High School and the Enduring Legacy of Racism

Urban Education Presents a Historical Exploration of How Race, Geography, Policy, and Power Collide in the American Education System

Traverse City, MI—The subject of education in America is often addressed with clinical stats, cold abstracts, and detached analysis. In contrast, Urban Education: Kansas City’s Central High School and the Enduring Legacy of Racism by Dr. Bradley W. Poos, (Mission Point Press, November 25, 2025), presents a unique, non-academic approach to institutional history by following a single school, Kansas City’s Central High School, from its very beginning in 1867 to today. The school became one of the first in Kansas City to integrate and between 1955 and 1962 its student body shifted from all White to all Black.

Urban Education: Kansas City's Central High School and the Enduring Legacy of Racism

While the book focuses on Central High School, the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi River, its story has broader relevance as urban schools in most American cities have followed a similar trajectory. Urban Education’s focus on one school is an uncommon approach but necessary to provide clarity on as Poos states, “what has been a convoluted, complicated, and messy area of study—urban education in the United States.”

A Living History

Urban Education provides readers with the perspective necessary to truly understand the contemporary educational landscape. “History matters, and education is no exception. By focusing on one school, the reader is provided a clearer picture of how federal, state, and local influences have impacted the school and its students. The book provides a new and different approach to understanding urban education,” Poos said.

The integral role of history in understanding the issue is supported by Poos’s careful and intentional approach. Wanting Urban Education to be grounded in lived experiences to lift up voices of those who experienced Central High School first-hand, he conducted extensive interviews and combed through published literature, archives, student publications, and newspaper articles. Featuring individuals who are often overlooked or marginalized was critical, Poos shared. “I think it’s particularly important when confronting issues of race, as voices of people of color are often silenced in the literature. I wanted to be sure to engage in truth-telling to capture the whole story.”

Fair and Quality Education

With so many challenges facing America's education system, Poos believes we are at a pivotal moment to address the needs of urban schools: "Over the past few decades, the shift toward choice and accountability has contributed to increased racial and economic segregation, and it is unfolding at a time when diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are being vilified and conversations about race and equity are increasingly being silenced."

Just two years ago, Central High School was facing closure having fallen victim to school choice, accountability, and the forces of neoliberalism. Urban Education tells Central’s story to help readers better understand the long struggle of urban education in the United States. Poos hopes it will encourage readers to think about urban schooling in their own communities and how to improve education “so that all students receive an equitable, fair, and quality education no matter where they reside or what they look like.”

The Author

Dr. Bradley W. Poos is the Sprint Endowed Professor in Urban Education and Associate Director in the Institute for Urban Education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Poos is a career educator who spent his first ten years in K-12 education as both a middle school and high school social studies teacher turned counselor, and who has spent the second half of his career in higher education. Dr. Poos is particularly interested in social history and exploring the lived experiences of everyday people. Dr. Poos has written and published broadly in these areas and has presented his work around the country. He has long been committed to work around equity and justice in education and the community at large.

The Book

Urban Education: Kansas City’s Central High School and the Enduring Legacy of Racism

Dr. Bradley W. Poos

330 pages, 6 x 9 inches, B/W

Education/Urban, Social Science/Race & Ethnic Relations, Political Science/Civil Rights

ISBN: 978-1-965278-70-3, $29.95 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-965278-71-0, $18.95 (Softcover)

Mission Point Press, November 25, 2025

Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its November 25 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at poosbw@gmail.com.

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