Tracing the origins of vouchers and charters in the United States, this book examines the push to globally compete with education systems in countries such as China and Finland. It documents issues important to the school choice debate, including the impoverishment of public schools to support privatized schools, the abandonment of long-held principles of public education, questionable disciplinary practices, and community disruption. School Choice: The End of Public Education? is essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the past and future of public education in America. -- from back cover. Read more...
1. The pressure to compete globally --
China --
South Korea --
Finland --
2. The messy beauty of American public education --
Education of a public responsibility --
Opening the schoolhouse doors to all children --
3. School choice as a means to preserve racial desegregation --
Massive resistance --
Resistance in other Southern states --
Bringing it home --
literally --
4. Milton Friedman and his unrealistic school choice --
The role of government in education --
Not greed, but social responsibility --
Vouchers: The choice belongs to whom? --
5. The origin of the charter school --
The charter school concept --
AFT President Albert Shanker and the school-within-a-school --
Shanker, Budde, and the charter school --
Let the charter legislation (and charter school opportunism) begin --
6. Who wants charters? --
Charter schools: Bipartisan with a conservative streak --
No Child Left Behind: Proposing charters as a solution --
Racing to the top via a charter cash competition --
What the Waltons want --
The American Legislative Exchange council --
Hedge funders and the charter school investment --
7. The charter take-away from the neighborhood public school --
The 21st-century charter threat, test scores, and poverty --
Charter schools: Funding absent accountability --
Issues of funding parity and evaluations of quality --
Waitlist illusions --
The charter school take-away --
8. For-profit charters (and associated for-profit education business opportunities) --
The big business of charter schools --
For-profit imagine schools --
The charter school gravy train --
Nonprofit charters and the corporate tax break: Brighter choice --
The proliferation of for-profit charters --
For-profit academia --
For-profit national heritage academies --
Regaining prosperity in the for-profit education industry --
For-profit K12 --
What about the kids? --
9. No excuse charters, broken windows, and micromanaged behavior --
Regulated environment --
A bit about KIPP --
No excuses academic research shyness --
Escaping from no excuses --
Broken windows theory --
The up-side of no excuses --
If you can't bend 'em, suspend 'em --
10. Gulen charters: A powerful Turkish cleric's followers find a cozy home in the American taxpayer pocket --
The Stahl treatment of Gulen --
Mary Addi alerts the FBI --
The Gulen force in Turkey --
More on Addi, the FBI, and Gulen entanglements --
Gulen schools in Los Angeles --
Gulen in Georgia (no longer) --
Gulen: Good for American public education? --
11. Some final thoughts on school choice --
Challenges to vouchers --
The Feds and school choice --
The confrontation.
