Since 1987, Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke has made education his top priority. He strongly supports serious, autonomous schools, insists on accountability, and has impeccable education credentials. Recognizing a crisis in public education, Schmoke moved to save the system from further deterioration and opened it to responsible reform via…

Most "systemic" reforms try to align different public education segments via mandated goals, tests, curriculum frameworks, and teacher certification methods but fail to eliminate political, contractual constraints that create fragmented, unresponsive schools. Contracting, alternative form of public education governance building on…

Charles Whittle's Edison Project aims to create 1,000 efficient schools driven by technology and the marketplace; students will supposedly generate high test scores and become competitive, proficient workers. Those opposing the profit motive's incursion into public education predict that the Edison Project and other privatization efforts will…

According to the 26th annual Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll, the growth of fighting/violence/gangs and poor discipline are the most serious problems facing today's schools. Parents rate their community schools highly but assign only passing grades to the nation's schools. Most favor character education and President Clinton's education initiatives…

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…

During the early 1970s, over 150 school districts and several states contracted with private companies to deliver instruction, and the Nixon Administration initiated a vast privatization field experiment in Texarkana. None of these performance contracting experiments significantly improved instruction. Instead, they raised issues of staffing,…

Argues for substantially reducing the power of corporations to influence the organization, content, and assessment of public education. (Contains 19 references.) (PKP)

Neither standards/high-stakes testing nor privatization/charter-school improvement approaches will live up to proponents' ambitious claims. Standardized tests cannot uphold new performance goals. Charter schools serve limited numbers of students, siphoning off pedagogical reform energies that would benefit kids left behind. Rigor and innovation…

The central federal question surrounding vouchers is whether participation of sectarian schools violates the First Amendment's Establishment clause. The U.S. Supreme Court, through its interpretation of the federal Constitution, may have the final word in determining voucher proposals' future. Litigation in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Vermont, and Maine…

The phrase "school/business relationship" is misleading, since such "partnerships" encompass everything from genuine altruism to cynical exploitation of the "youth market." Corporate infiltration could signal privatization of public education, despite conspicuous failures like Education Alternatives, Inc. Instead of…

The 1996 Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll found that people oppose using tax money to support nonpublic schools and reject privatization of schools' basic instructional functions. People generally rate their local schools highly, believe educational improvement is more important than deficit reduction, and believe the Democratic Party is more…

A study of 17 charter schools in 10 California districts concludes that these schools have not lived up to the assumptions propelling them. Charters fell short on accountability, administrative autonomy, funding efficiency, choice and admissions, infusion of competition, and instructional innovation. Public school educators claim charters are…

Although teacher unions promote private means of resolving labor conflicts instead of using public courts, they are engaged in a war on privatization, especially contracting out. It is surprising that the media and higher education take seriously the contention that unions do not negatively affect educational achievement. Advocates of "the…

Debunks two fantasies: the feasibility of a free-market educational system and the idea that greater choice automatically means better schools. Public education is too labor-intensive and undercapitalized to be profitable. Communities need "skunk works" schools of choice to do research and development and smaller, collaboratively managed…

The school system's uniformity is clearly a liability in the modern era. Today's schools need entrepreneurship, not change by rule, regulation, and statute. The central issue of entrepreneurship is not risk-taking, but innovative, implementation methods. Eventually, using private contractors to improve the management of instructional services will…