School Choice Policies And Outcomes

Download or read book School Choice Policies and Outcomes written by Walter Feinberg and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2008-10-16 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Perhaps no school reform has generated as much interest and controversy in recent years as the proposal to have parents select their children's schools. Opponents of school choice fear that rolling back the government's role will lead to profit-driven financial scandals, sectarianism, and increased class and racial isolation. School choice advocates believe that state provision, oversight, and regulation stifle entrepreneurial creativity. The contributors to this volume not only provide a clear assessment of the logic and evidence supporting the different sides of the debate but also unmask the assumptions about the relationship between markets, government, and educational achievement. Their message is that neither markets nor government alone will guarantee freedom, equality, achievement, or community. If choice is to improve education and advance equality, then educational policy cannot be placed on automatic and left to the "free" market. Rather, choice policy must be deliberately directed toward meeting these goals, and this book shows how that could be accomplished.