This paper asserts that government responsibilities in education and the strong connection of Americans with their public schools are being tested, as a network of Religious Right groups, free-market economists, ultraconservative columnists, and others use vouchers as a vehicle to achieve their ultimate goal of privatizing education. Their…

In World Trade Organization negotiations, it has been proposed that education be treated as a service to be exchanged for profit. This is contrary to the United Nations covenant that education is a universal human right. Educators need to affirm that knowledge is not a commodity, but something whose benefit increases proportionately with the…

A study of Florida's "school accountability" reform examined Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores in Orange County. It was found that percentages of low-income, gifted, and Black students in a school population could predict the FCAT score with 80-86 percent accuracy. The testing process creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.…

The Edison Project will reconfigure time, deploy truly professional teachers, and utilize technologies in powerful new ways. Other Edison design highlights include its research basis; clear, defining values; high universal standards; five-domain curriculum; proven, individualized instructional methods; creative organization; true accountability;…

Although urban public school educators are not achieving optimal results, there is no evidence that for-profit educational companies will do any better or possess special expertise in educating poor students of color. Education Alternatives, Inc. has trouble retaining low-paid nonunion paraprofessionals and has cut out minority contractors. The…

Advocates hail privatization as an effective, cost-efficient tool for school boards in meeting their wide-ranging obligations and diverse responsibilities. Critics see privatization as movement away from a publicly owned and operated institution with broad citizen support to a hollow structure that compromises public education's goals. A sidebar…

The drive for privatizing public education comes from two different movements: load-shedding and outsourcing. Districts hope to reduce perceived labor problems, avoid managing "uninteresting" services, save money, and/or buy quick-fix education reform. Privatization of charter schools is becoming big business, but its cost-effectiveness…

In this three-part paper, Richard Quantz proclaims that it was the spirit of the free school movement that originally attracted him to the social foundations of education and to the philosophy of education. He wonders what has happened to the progressive movement--the one that embraced Ivan Illich's call to "deschool society" and called…

Defines and discusses alternatives to traditional public schooling, including private and home schools, contract schools, charter schools, and school-based finance systems. Implications for principals are reflected in a drive for more rigorous state tests and standards and the growing use of technology, which stresses independent study. Charter…

A $500-billion industry, K-12 education offers attractive investment possibilities. Public education is being broadly criticized; state governments favor new program structures; the school-age population is growing; new technologies offer entrepreneurial opportunities; school revenues provide ready capital; and the knowledge industry is booming.…

Globalizing trends--underscored by neoliberalism, privatization and imperial legacies--are changing the nature and purpose of education across the world. "With these rules of the capitalist game," a Colombian student argues, "the public university in Latin America has been played." Manifestations of these trends, however, vary…

This fictional review of a book on vocational education, 1980-2033, suggests that (1) vocational educators failed to track signs of change; (2) deregulation transferred educational responsibility from the public sector to corporations with an underlying need to affect learning and work productivity. The "author's" response questions…

In 2002, Marc Hall's principal denied him permission to take his boyfriend to his Catholic high-school prom. In examining the politicization of the ensuing prom predicament, we critique Catholicized education and what we perceive to be the Catholic Church's efforts to privatize queerness as it segregates being religious from being sexual. We…

This article starts by putting the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) into a general context of privatisation. It is noted that the privatisation process is in many cases complex and not only about full-scale privatisation of schools. The growing trade in education must be seen in this context. GATS is not an agreement which deals with…

This book describes how and why educational choice movements will affect public education. It uses a public-choice approach to argue that both the supporters and opponents of private and school choice have failed to address several critical issues. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 is devoted to the rationale for contracting out…