Businesses are entering education because they believe they can do a better job with a higher quality of service. Describes the emerging education industry, examines reasons for the growth, offers a glimpse into the future, and suggests some criteria school business officials can use to evaluate privately delivered services. (MLF)

Americans are facing a critical choice between two different systems of school control the continuance of the current system of public governance or a move to a privatized approach to schooling. The purpose of this book is to help educators and citizens better understand the issues and opportunities associated with changes in educational…

Education decentralization efforts are examined in six primarily rural, sub-Saharan African countries--Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Stated reasons do not always reflect the real underlying rationales for decentralization. Education decentralization that is publicly advocated to improve service delivery and local…

Explores how extensions to the General Agreements on Trade in Services (GATS) designed to increase market access of private service providers to industries now in the public sector could affect public higher education. Asserts that these agreements have an alarming potential to limit the role of government in the delivery of public services such…

This book looks at the privatization of education as an ideological construct. In exploring and assessing the concept of privatized education, it focuses on the debate over private choice and school vouchers. It also looks at the development of private curriculums and educational materials created by corporations, various scholarship-funding…

This article makes a contribution to discussion on the neo-liberal reshaping of education in Western Europe. It argues for a greater attentiveness on the part of education researchers to collective social actors such as trade unions and social movements. Making use of concepts from Gramsci and from Poulantzas, it suggests that such actors had a…

This brief examines how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) dollars flow from the federal government through states and districts and into the coffers of companies, mostly for-profit companies. The brief makes the case that the law enriches many private companies and individuals, especially those close to President George W. Bush and his family. The brief…

Challenges the following assumptions: (1) parental choice will motivate schools to improve programs to compete more effectively for students; (2) private not-for-profit schools will respond to marketplace incentives; (3) research indicates an advantage of private over public organizations; (4) public choice theory promotes school improvement; and…

Despite differences among Mediterranean sub-regions, a shared political history and common state of peripheralization to the global economy make comparing the region's university systems possible. Presents nine propositions that highlight trends throughout the years. Argues that the propositions could constitute an initial agenda for further…

Neoliberalism claims that privatization, marketization, uniform standards, and accountability--some important dynamics surrounding globalization in education--increase choices and quality in education. However, numerous studies show that the market has consistently devalued alternatives; increased the power of dominant models; and exacerbated…

The movement towards national academic standards and high-stakes testing is driven by corporate interests seeking profits and ultimately, privatization of public education. Teachers, parents, and students have had no input into these policy decisions. Research shows that the standards movement penalizes low-income and minority students, replaces…

The choice of the Oregon Health Sciences University to change its status from public to private is discussed, focusing on the reasons for the change (decreased public funding, health care market competition, bureaucracy), the political process of building support for legislation, key features of restructuring, challenges faced, and lessons…

Case study of a poor, rural Pennsylvania school district's experience with the Reading First initiative illustrates how the No Child Left Behind Act confines districts to a few federally prescribed, "scientifically proven" curricula that ignore local conditions. Sanctioned schools are negatively labeled but receive inadequate funding,…

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…

Examines the privatized management of the complete urban public school system of Chelsea (Massachusetts), the first example of school system privatization in the country. The role of Boston University and resistance of the Latino population are studied, and implications for educational reform and minority politics are examined. (SLD)