A series of policy shifts over the past decade promises to change how Americans decide where to send their children to school. In theory, the expanded use of standardized test scores and the boom in charter schools will allow parents to evaluate their assigned neighborhood school, or move in search of a better option. But what kind of data do…

"School Choice and School Improvement" brings together a collection of exemplary, policy-relevant papers that examine how communities, districts, and states use choice as a strategy for improving schools and student learning. The book includes sophisticated and insightful research on private schools and vouchers; charter schools and traditional…

Tracing the history of Native American schooling in North America, this book emphasizes factors in society at large--and sometimes within indigenous communities--which led to Native American children being separate from the white majority. Charles Glenn examines the evolving assumptions about race and culture as applied to schooling, the reactions…

The interplay between sociopolitical forces and economic agendas becomes apparent when one examines the June 28, 2007 United States Supreme Court Decision, Parents Involved In Community Schools v. Seattle School District . In a reversal of the 1954 Brown Decision, the United States Supreme Court ruled that public schools could not use race as a…

The United States Supreme Court's 1954 landmark decision, "Brown v. Board of Education," set into motion a process of desegregation that would eventually transform American public schools. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of how "Brown's" most visible effect--contact between students of different…

"From the Courtroom to the Classroom" examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. As the editors note, it comes at a time marked by a "general downplaying of race and ethnicity as criteria for the allocation of public resources, as well as a weakening of the political forces that support…

This highly acclaimed volume in the "Defending Public Schools" series is now available in paperback from Teachers College Press. It is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policymakers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth. This…

This collection of papers focuses on how to overcome challenges related to economic and racial school segregation through public school choice. The first section presents "Report of the Task Force" (the importance of school integration, overcoming challenges to integration, and case studies in integration). It also includes additional comments by…

This book presents a narrative version of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, which struck down state-sponsored racial segregation in America's schools. It analyzes the origins and consequences of that landmark case, illuminating the legal, political, and social implications of this decision. The book weaves many controversial issues…

Class, culture, and race have influenced the educational experiences of children for centuries, and they are gaining importance in the increasingly diverse American society of today. This reference work explores the critical importance of these issues to American education and uses historical, anthropological, sociological, and theoretical…

This compendium of excerpts from Supreme Court decisions concerning education is introduced by an historical narrative relating those decisions both to each other and to important Supreme Court decisions which did not concern education. The cases concerning education are classified here under five headings. One group of cases deals with the impact…

Throughout the English-speaking world, and now Western Europe and parts of East Asia, parental choice and educational markets are being seen by politicians and policy advisors as the panacea to problems of low educational standards and social exclusion. This book tests the key assumptions underlying the faith in markets by linking an analysis of…

The problems commonly associated with inner-city schools were not nearly as pervasive a century ago, when black children in most northern cities attended school alongside white children. In "Schools Betrayed", her innovative history of race and urban education, Kathryn M. Neckerman tells the story of how and why these schools came to…

This book presents a collection of papers that examine progress since 1954 in achieving racial equality in education and how to most effectively and efficiently achieve the promise of Brown v. Board of Education. The 11 papers are: (1) "Introduction: Assessing the Promise of 'Brown'" (Christine H. Rossell, David J. Armor, and Herbert J.…