Charter schools : hope or hype? / Jack Buckley and Mark Schneider.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buckley, Jack, 1972-

Contributor:

Schneider, Mark, 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Charter schools--United States.

Charter schools.

Privatization in education--United States.

Privatization in education.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (358 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. ; Oxford : Princeton University Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Over the past several years, privately run, publicly funded charter schools have been sold to the American public as an education alternative promising better student achievement, greater parent satisfaction, and more vibrant school communities. But are charter schools delivering on their promise? Or are they just hype as critics contend, a costly experiment that is bleeding tax dollars from public schools? In this book, Jack Buckley and Mark Schneider tackle these questions about one of the thorniest policy reforms in the nation today. Using an exceptionally rigorous research approach, the authors investigate charter schools in Washington, D.C., carefully examining school data going back more than a decade, interpreting scores of interviews with parents, students, and teachers, and meticulously measuring how charter schools perform compared to traditional public schools. Their conclusions are sobering. Buckley and Schneider show that charter-school students are not outperforming students in traditional public schools, that the quality of charter-school education varies widely from school to school, and that parent enthusiasm for charter schools starts out strong but fades over time. And they argue that while charter schools may meet the most basic test of sound public policy--they do no harm--the evidence suggests they all too often fall short of advocates' claims. With the future of charter schools--and perhaps public education as a whole--hanging in the balance, this book supports the case for holding charter schools more accountable and brings us considerably nearer to resolving this contentious debate.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction

2. The Evolution of Charter-School Choice in the District of Columbia

3. The Panel Study

4. Are Charter-School Students Harder to Educate than Those in the Traditional Public Schools?

5. Shopping for Schools on the Internet Using DCSchoolSearch.com

6. What Do Parents Want from Schools? It Depends on How You Ask

7. School Choice and the Importance of Parental Information

8. How Do Parents Access and Process Information about Schools?

9. Satisfaction with Schools

10. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Parental Satisfaction over Time

11. Building Social Capital in the Nation's Capital: Can School Choice Build a Foundation for Cooperative Behavior?

12. Do Charter Schools Promote Citizenship among Students?

13. Charter Schools: Hype or Hope?

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9786612458538

9781282458536

1282458531

9781400831852

1400831857

OCLC:

568104841