Before signing on with a private firm to manage schools, school boards should consider whether privatization will save the school district and the taxpayers money, lessen bureaucracy, and lead to higher test scores or other objective measures of improvement. In addition, boards should ask whether the proposal is free of bias and whether the…

Outsourcing is a strategy that is used in English universities as well as in the United States. Describes some of the challenges and rewards associated with outsourcing in England, introduces various models for student affairs, and provides a case study of how one university approached outsourcing. (GCP)

During the last quarter of a century, public higher education institutions have found themselves buffeted by a perfect storm. This storm has led to discussions about the privatization of those institutions, which has implications for their ability to improve, or at least maintain, their quality and their accessibility to students from all…

A study examined the design, imagery, and language of the Web sites of six major Education Management Organizations (EMOs), companies that manage schools for profit. The six companies are Advantage Schools, Inc.; Beacon Education Management, Inc.; Edison Schools; The Leona Group; L.L.C.; Mosaica Education; and National Heritage Academies. The…

Addresses the corrosive effects of corporate culture on the academy and society, arguing that neoliberal discourses of privatization and commercialization reduce citizenship to self-interest. Maintains that corporate culture ignores social injustices while emphasizing unfettered market forces, threatening understanding of democracy and the meaning…

Public-sector management teams and their counterpart labor unions are faced with an ever-increasing myriad of challenges in the quest to produce collective bargaining agreements. Shrinking tax bases, declining levels of federal and state assistance, and public demands for downsizing and privatization are all factors that suggest that financial…

Discusses three worldwide policy trends--privatization, revitalization, and decentralization--and their impact on economic development and extension education. (SK)

Considers various aspects of the future of technology in education, including learning through apprenticeship, equitable access to learning technology, business and industry needs and the relationship between workplace performance and academic credentials, and the commercial privatization of public education. (LRW)

Reports on the results of a study undertaken in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts in 1992 of the use of contracting arrangements in children's services. Highlights the positive and negative aspects of contracting for both contractors and providers, and discusses the impact of this approach for the traditional differentiation between nongovernmental…

Privatization of schools would abandon the nation's commitment to educational equity. Pluralism, educational excellence, and democratic governance are all at stake. A real reform and restructuring of public schools from the bottom up is underway, fundamentally questioning traditional assumptions about schooling. (SK)

Several superintendents have recently left school administration for careers in private education companies such as Education Alternatives, Inc., the Edison Project, and Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. Former superintendents from New York, Rochester, Saint Paul, and Detroit reflect on their reasons for switching careers. Salary considerations…

Discusses policy decisions that led to the privatization and commercialization of NSFnet; explains the roles of IBM, MCI Communications, and ANS (Advanced Network and Service); and suggests the role that the federal government should take to ensure that the NREN (National Research and Education Network) addresses issues of public access and…

In "Corporate School Takeovers," the National Education Association expresses indignation over profit making by private companies providing services to schools. Argues that profits are a way of recognizing costs that exist in all school settings. The seeking of profits is no more selfish than the seeking of higher salaries, promotions,…

In this article, the author discusses the No Child Left Behind (NCLB)-required testing and privatization in public education. The author points out that the NCLB is not a step in the right direction. It is a deeply damaging, mostly ill-intentioned law, and no one genuinely committed to improving public schools (or to advancing the interests of…

Engaging students requires giving them a say in what they learn and how they will learn it. However, in strictly disciplined, rule-bound schools with test-driven curricula, this cannot happen. Edison Schools, Inc., a for-profit Education Management Organization (EMO), and Confluence Academy, an Edison-run school located in one of the most…