ERIC Number: EJ922204
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-May
Pages: 37
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0895-9048
EISSN: N/A
Is the Outcry for More Pilot Schools Warranted? Democracy, Collective Bargaining, Deregulation, and the Politics of School Reform in Boston
Knoester, Matthew
Educational Policy, v25 n3 p387-423 May 2011
Using a theoretical lens of democratic education, this study critically analyzes pilot schools in the Boston Public School system, a school model gaining influence and imitation around the United States. Building on theories regarding the role of democracy in schools, and especially workplace democracy, this article juxtaposes these conceptions of democracy with competing economic theories of marketization, privatization, antiunionism, and individualism, here referred to as neoliberalism, and analyzes the political terrain onto which pilot schools emerged, are debated, and understood. The Boston Teachers Union first conceptualized, and bargained for, pilot schools in the early 1990s. However, the union has since come under criticism from influential individuals and groups for resisting or slowing the expansion of this reform. This study examines the proposition that more pilot schools should be created and argues that insufficient evidence exists to warrant the current outcry for pilot school expansion. (Contains 20 notes.)
Descriptors: Educational Change, Charter Schools, School Choice, Democracy, Collective Bargaining, Unions, Politics of Education, Political Attitudes, Economic Development, Urban Schools, Public Schools, School Segregation, Racial Integration, Social Integration, Academic Achievement, Parent School Relationship, School Community Relationship, Teaching Conditions
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A