Throughout the 20th century, community-owned and operated public schooling was viewed in the United States as an essential mechanism for advancing the country's democratic ideals, institutions, and economic interests. But the first decades of the 21st century have witnessed a historic shift away from this commitment to public schools, as federal…

This article outlines different forms of education privatization operating globally, examines their prevalence within the United States, and analyzes whether student marginalization and segregation occurs at the local level. We analyze six U.S. districts with higher saturation levels of charter schools, the most predominant type of privatization…

While past annual "Profiles" reports have focused on either for-profit EMOs (education management organizations) or nonprofit EMOs, this is the first annual "Profiles" report to cover both categories in a single report which allows for easier comparisons. The 2010-2011 school year marked another year of relatively slow growth in the for-profit…

This study evaluates the impact of the privatization of education services in the Philadelphia School District, using an interrupted time series design. The sample observes 88 middle-grades schools, beginning with the 1996-97 school year, and finds that, by 2006, four years postintervention, the achievement growth rate of schools run by…

What does a country do when its schools and educational system in general do not produce the results the country believes they are capable of? This article describes the political debates that comparative international studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment have given rise to in Germany and Sweden. As a result of the…

Following a state takeover of the Philadelphia public schools in 2002, 45 schools were turned over to private managers, making Philadelphia the site of the nation's largest experiment in the private management of public schools. This study examines achievement effects in the privately managed schools, as well as in schools with district-led…

The essays provided in this book shed light on and initiate debates about important policy issues associated with education reform and improvement. The authors do this by linking conceptual frameworks to past research, analyzing these challenges, and speculating about the contours of future research and school practice. Part 1, Educational…