Democracy and Reform in Public Schools

Democracy and Reform in Public Schools PDF Author: Saul Rubinstein
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1682538532
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
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.

Democracy and Reform in Public Schools

Democracy and Reform in Public Schools PDF Author: Saul Rubinstein
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1682538532
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 127

Get Book Here

Book Description
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 PDF Author: David C. Berliner
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807766097
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
"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 PDF Author: A. Belden Fields
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791490424
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
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 PDF Author: Anthony Bryk
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429981376
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
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 PDF Author: Marion Orr
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804763569
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
This volume examines the ways youth, parents, community members, and civic leaders join forces to improve public education.

Failure of Corporate School Reform

Failure of Corporate School Reform PDF Author: Kenneth J. Saltman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317259742
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
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.

The Assault on Public Education

The Assault on Public Education PDF Author: William Watkins
Publisher: Teachers College Press
ISBN: 0807771430
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
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

Dewey's Dream

Dewey's Dream PDF Author: Lee Benson
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781592135936
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Realizing Dewey's vision of making public schools the seedbed of a democratic society.

Democracy's Schools

Democracy's Schools PDF Author: Johann N. Neem
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421423219
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
The unknown history of American public education. At a time when Americans are debating the future of public education, Johann N. Neem tells the inspiring story of how and why Americans built a robust public school system in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War. It’s a story in which ordinary people in towns across the country worked together to form districts and build schoolhouses and reformers sought to expand tax support and give every child a liberal education. By the time of the Civil War, most northern states had made common schools free, and many southern states were heading in the same direction. Americans made schooling a public good. Yet back then, like today, Americans disagreed over the kind of education needed, who should pay for it, and how schools should be governed. Neem explores the history and meaning of these disagreements. As Americans debated, teachers and students went about the daily work of teaching and learning. Neem takes us into the classrooms of yore so that we may experience public schools from the perspective of the people whose daily lives were most affected by them. Ultimately, Neem concludes, public schools encouraged a diverse people to see themselves as one nation. By studying the origins of America’s public schools, Neem urges us to focus on the defining features of democratic education: promoting equality, nurturing human beings, preparing citizens, and fostering civic solidarity.

Reading, Writing, and Justice

Reading, Writing, and Justice PDF Author: James W. Fraser
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791434055
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
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.