school choice

"School choice, largely touted as a system that would ensure underprivileged youth have an equal opportunity in education, has grown in popularity in the past fifteen years. The rhetoric of school choice, however, resembles that of segregationists who closed public schools and funded private institutions to block African American students from integrating with their white peers in the wake of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court decision. In Overturning Brown, Steve Suitts examines the parallels between de facto segregationist policies and the modern school choice movement. He exposes the dangers lying behind the smoke and mirrors of the so-called civil rights policies of Betsy DeVos and the education privatization lobbies. Economic and educational disparities have expanded rather than contracted in the years following Brown, and post-Jim Crow discriminatory policies drive inequality and poverty today. Suitts deftly reveals the risk that America's underprivileged youth face as school voucher programs funnel public education funds into charter schools and predominantly white and wealthy private schools"--.

"In an attempt to correct the perceived failures of public schools came the notion of school choice. One solution is charter schools: independent, privately run but publicly funded schools that now enroll more than three million students across forty-three states. Another is vouchers, which allow parents to use state dollars at their school of choice. But evidence of vouchers' success is scant, and many argue that they violate the First Amendment. What happens to public school systems when tax dollars go instead to alternative choices? The viewpoints in this anthology examine the debates surrounding education for our future generations"--Provided by publisher.

Award-winning author, public intellectual, and former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch critiques a lifetime's worth of school reforms and reveals the simple--yet difficult--truth about how we can create actual change in public schools.

"--- argues that under free market capitalism, life paths prescribed by class but framed as parental choices--publor or private? Gifted & Talented, general or special education?--segregate American children from birth throuh adolescence, and into adulthood, as never before. In age of austerity, an elite class of corporate education reformers has found new ways to transfer the costs f raising children to families. Examining three New York City schools, Class War show how education has been transformed into a competitive "hunger games" for the resources and social connections required for economic success"-- Provided by publisher.

A collection of essays that discuss a number of issues related to the right to choose an alternative school.

A comprehensive examination of traditional public schools, public charter schools, and faith-based schools, considering and comparing the overall data of these school programs to predict likely outcomes of school choice programs.

Diane Ravitch, the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, discusses the state of American public schools and argues against the claim that our public school system is broken and should be privatized.

Describes the benefits that voucher programs have brought to children in New York City, Milwaukee, and Cleveland, arguing that unions, bureaucracy, and spurious teaching methods have made many public schools ineffective and even detrimental.

School Choice: The Findings is the most comprehensive and up-to-date survey available summarizing the research on charter schools, vouchers, and public versus private school effectiveness. The focus is on rigorous studies - those using randomized control groups (as in medical research), those that monitor achievement changes over time, and those based on large numbers of students. The findings reviewed here go beyond academic achievement, covering students' civic engagement, cost comparisons across school types, and public and parental opinion about schools and school choice. The consensus of this research overwhelmingly favors competition and parental choice in education.

A book of readings dealing with the state of education in America, intended for use in college courses.