Democracy and Reform in Public Schools
Democracy and Reform in Public Schools

Author: Saul Rubinstein

Publisher: Harvard Education Press

Published: 2023-11-30

Total Pages: 127

ISBN-13: 1682538532

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A thought-provoking examination of how public education systems can be strengthened through strategic relationships both within schools and with outside partners. In Democracy and Reform in Public Schools, Saul Rubinstein, Charles Heckscher, and John McCarthy apply their expertise in labor relations to public school reform. They envision a model of K–12 education that shifts away from the tenets of neoliberalism and centers on productive collaboration among school boards, school administrators, teacher unions, and other education stakeholders. Providing evidence of the links between collaborative partnerships and improved student outcomes, Rubinstein, Heckscher, and McCarthy build on a rich body of research on interorganizational cooperation. They highlight case studies such as that of the New Jersey Public School Labor-Management Collaborative as leading examples of how better student performance, more intra-district learning and innovation, and reduced teacher turnover can be traced to greater educator collaboration. Citing examples not only from the K–12 educational sector but also from successful union–management partnerships in the automobile, steel, and telecommunications industries, they then identify proven strategies to foster collaborative partnerships at district, state, and national levels. They discuss techniques for forging new partnerships, sustaining collaborative efforts, and expanding the collaborative partnership model to larger scales. This work expertly demonstrates how employment relations practices are antecedents to whole-system reform in schools.

Public Education
Public Education

Author: David C. Berliner

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2021-11-30

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0807766097

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"Twenty-eight eminent essayists remind our nations parents, educators, school board members and politicians that our democracy is in jeopardy and that our nation's system of free universal public education is also under attack. If that attack succeeds, American democracy itself would be further imperiled. That is because American democracy rests on a belief that the power of our government comes from the people, and the diffusion of knowledge and the enlightenment of the people has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic. America's public schools, therefore, have a special mandate"--

Education and Democratic Theory
Education and Democratic Theory

Author: A. Belden Fields

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2001-04-19

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 0791490424

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Winner of the 2001 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award Much has been made of the gap between public schools and the communities that they serve. This book shows how a group of teachers, parents, and community people in "Ed City" formed an educational reform group—the Project for Educational Democracy—to increase access to decision making in their school system, especially for members of the community who had previously been excluded. A combination of ethnographic research and theoretical reflection, this book addresses concepts of community, authority, representation, participation, and democracy.

Charting Chicago School Reform
Charting Chicago School Reform

Author: Anthony Bryk

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-03-08

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 0429970293

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In 1989, Chicago began an experiment with radical decentralization of power and authority. Intertwining extensive narratives and rigorous quantitative analyses, this book tells the story of what happened to Chicagos elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. }In 1989, Chicago began an experiment with radical decentralization of power and authority. This book tells the story of what happened to Chicagos elementary schools in the first four years of this reform. Implicit in this reform is the theory that expanded local democratic participation would stimulate organizational change within schools, which in turn would foster improved teaching and learning. Using this theory as a framework, the authors marshal massive quantitative and qualitative data to examine how the reform actually unfolded at the school level.With longitudinal case study data on 22 schools, survey responses from principals and teachers in 269 schools, and supplementary system-wide administrative data, the authors identify four types of school politics: strong democracy, consolidated principal power, maintenance, and adversarial. In addition, they classify school change efforts as either systemic or unfocused. Bringing these strands together, the authors determine that, in about a third of the schools, expanded local democratic participation served as a strong lever for introducing systemic change focused on improved instruction. Finally, case studies of six actively restructuring schools illustrate how under decentralization the principals role is recast, social support for change can grow, and ideas and information from external sources are brought to bear on school change initiatives. Few studies intertwine so completely extensive narratives and rigorous quantitative analyses. The result is a complex picture of the Chicago reform that joins the politics of local control to school change.This volume is intended for scholars in the fields of urban education, public policy, sociology of education, anthropology of education, and politics of education. Comprehensive and descriptive, it is an engaging text for graduate students and upper-level undergraduates. Local, state, and federal policymakers who are concerned with urban education will find new and insightful material. The book should be on reading lists and in professional development seminars for school principals who want to garner community support for change and for school community leaders who want more responsive local institutions. Finally, educators, administrators, and activists in Chicago will appreciate this detailed analysis of the early years of reform.

Public Engagement for Public Education
Public Engagement for Public Education

Author: John Rogers

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2010-11-17

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0804776385

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Community participation plays a large role in the success or failure of our public schools. This book focuses attention on the problem of inequality in public engagement, considering how race, class, ethnicity, language, and immigration status shape opportunities for engagement. Without the active participation of the public, chances for improving school systems are limited. Without equal opportunity for public engagement, those in the lower reaches of stratified society are left largely on the outside looking in—and that all too easily becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Public Engagement for Public Education speaks to the potential for students, parents, community members, and civic leaders to join forces and create more equitable schooling. Such engagement can expand access to quality educational pathways which in turn paves the way to a stronger voice in society and the promise of the American dream. If segments of society are blocked access to those pathways, the book argues, nothing less than the health of American democracy is at stake.

Reading, Writing, and Justice
Reading, Writing, and Justice

Author: James W. Fraser

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1997-01-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 9780791434055

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This is a book for teachers, parents, and other concerned citizens who care about public education, who want schools to be democratic in the best sense, and who seek argumentative ammunition for defending schools and for placing school issues within the larger framework of the long struggle to keep and expand democracy in the United States.

The Assault on Public Education
The Assault on Public Education

Author: William Watkins

Publisher: Teachers College Press

Published: 2015-04-24

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0807771430

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In this timely interdisciplinary volume, William Watkins has brought together leading scholars and activists to address some of the most urgent issues facing public education. What is underneath and behind the language of choice, efficiency, and improvement in current neoliberal discourse? How will urban and poor populations be affected? Will privatization lead to increased stratification in our schools? How can public education not only be saved but re-imagined? In accessible language, renowned contributors explore and critique corporate school reform to both inform and serve as an organizing tool for teachers, parents, students, and citizens committed to genuine public education. Book Features: A comprehensive critique of how corporate power is disrupting universal public education. An illumination of how corporate school reform threatens unions, racial progress, and democracy. An illustration of how private wealth forges public policy. A case study of the public school system in New Orleans. Contributors: Pauline Lipman • Kennneth Saltman • Alfie Kohn • Jack Gerson • Malila N. Robinson • Catherine A. Lugg • William H. Watkins • Ann G. Winfield • Kristen L. Buras William H. Watkins is a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of The White Architects of Black Education. “As The Assault on Public Education makes so very clear. . . we are witnessing the growth of a destructive set of policies in education and the larger society. This book provides us with a set of articulate analyses of what the future will likely hold if we do not engage in the hard and committed labor of countering these dangerous tendencies today.” —From the Foreword by Michael W. Apple, University of Wisconsin–Madison “The Assault on Public Education is a powerful assemblage of scholars, practitioners, and activists who are willing to stand up to the entrenched interests arrayed against public education as we know it. This is a must read for thinking citizen scholars.” —Gloria Ladson-Billings, University of Wisconsin-Madison “Today is a pivotal moment for America and its schools. Teachers and others who envision schools that enhance democratic life will find critical theoretical and practical guidance in this book. Use it.” —Daniel Perlstein, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley “Watkins has produced an important and timely work—a much-needed corrective to the dumbing-down of educational policy discourse. The essays here offer a very real challenge to those who have confounded market-based policy with school reform and the well-being of children with the well-being of corporations.” —Charles Payne, University of Chicago

Failure of Corporate School Reform
Failure of Corporate School Reform

Author: Kenneth J. Saltman

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-11-17

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1317259742

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Corporate school reforms, especially privatization, union busting, and high-stakes testing have been hailed as the last best hope for public education. Yet, as Kenneth Saltman powerfully argues in this new book, corporate school reforms have decisively failed to deliver on what their proponents have promised for two decades: higher test scores and lower costs. As Saltman illustrates, the failures of corporate school reform are far greater and more destructive than they seem. Left unchecked, corporate school reform fails to challenge and in fact worsens the most pressing problems facing public schooling, including radical funding inequalities, racial segregation, and anti-intellectualism. But it is not too late for change. Against both corporate school reformers and its liberal critics, this book argues for the expansion of democratic pedagogies and a new common school movement that will lead to broader social renewal.

Dewey's Dream
Dewey's Dream

Author: Lee Benson

Publisher: Temple University Press

Published: 2007-03-02

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1592135927

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This timely, persuasive, and hopeful book reexamines John Dewey's idea of schools, specifically community schools, as the best places to grow a democratic society that is based on racial, social, and economic justice. The authors assert that American colleges and universities bear a responsibility for-and would benefit substantially from-working with schools to develop democratic schools and communities. Dewey's Dream opens with a reappraisal of Dewey's philosophy and an argument for its continued relevance today. The authors-all well-known in education circles-use illustrations from over 20 years of experience working with public schools in the University of Pennsylvania's local ecological community of West Philadelphia, to demonstrate how their ideas can be put into action. By emphasizing problem-solving as the foundation of education, their work has awakened university students to their social responsibilities. And while the project is still young, it demonstrates that Dewey's "Utopian ends" of creating optimally participatory democratic societies can lead to practical, constructive school, higher education and community change, development, and improvement.

Will Standards Save Public Education?
Will Standards Save Public Education?

Author: Deborah Meier

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2000-04-24

Total Pages: 110

ISBN-13: 9780807004418

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Somewhere. . . there is a place of sanity where education is intense and substantive. . . . It's in that place that Deborah Meier has been working all these years. Her voice conveys a life of struggle in the front lines-victories and losses, hopes and disappointments. . . . It's a voice our nation needs to hear. --Jonathan Kozol, from the Foreword Acclaimed educator Deborah Meier offers a fresh take on standardized tests. While others have criticized standards and what they measure, Meier rejects the very idea of a centralized authority that dictates how and what teachers teach. Standardization, she argues, prevents citizens-including teachers-from emerging as thoughtful, responsible adults, seriously engaged with shaping their own schools, classrooms, and communities. As a result, young people can't learn from them how to be thoughtful, responsible adults and good citizens, the primary goal of public education in a democracy. The New Democracy Forum is a series of short paperback originals exploring creative solutions to our most urgent national concerns. "A civic treasure. . . . A truly good idea, carried out with intelligence and panache." --Robert Pinsky