Explains why private companies and schools doing business with one another may be harmful to students. Problems uncovered from a decade of commercialization in the classroom are discussed as are issues of for-profit companies seeking to take over the operation of public schools, and one attempt to impose legislation to curtail commercialism. (GR)

We argue that the privatisation of education needs to be understood through an ethical lens, and suggest a broad framework through which privatisation policies and practices might be ethically audited. These policies and practices it is suggested are creating new ethical spaces and new clusters of goals, obligations and dispositions. Whatever the…

Public-private partnerships in education exist in various forms around the world, in both developed and developing countries. Despite this, and despite the importance of human capital for economic growth, systematic analysis has been limited and scattered, with most scholarly attention going to initiatives in the United States. This volume helps…

Privatization pioneer Education Alternatives Inc. (EAI) has lost contracts to manage schools in Baltimore, Maryland, and Hartford, Connecticut. EAI's backers claim the lost contracts are proof of an entrenched bureaucracy. Others fault the contracts for lack of specificity about roles, responsibilities, payments, and outcomes. (MLF)

Summarizes the main points of this special issue on outsourcing in higher education by drawing together and relating conclusions, and speculating on the future of external partnerships. Also identifies some external partnerships and their specific nature. (GCP)

Our review of Henry Giroux's Stealing Innocence, Alex Molnar's Giving Kids the Business, and Kenneth Saltman's Collateral Damage describes how these authors assess the problems posed by contemporary corporate influences on public schools and considers the solutions they offer to counter those influences. We also examine Henry Levin's edited…

The entrepreneur behind the Edison Project and Channel One shares his observations about the unfairness of public school critics, the "tyranny" of operational demands, and the promise of national school companies for underemployed teachers and research and development ventures. Praising public schools for being receptive to new concepts,…

Public school districts signing on with private companies to provide services need to set up contracts with performance standards. Provides seven general advice tips about what to include in contracts and case studies of what three school districts have done in setting up contracts with private companies. (MLF)

By pooling talents and resources of seasoned educators and the private sector, Education Alternatives, Inc. is invigorating school systems in several urban areas, including Dade County, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; and Hartford, Connecticut. A private-public partnership has two advantages over conventionally managed districts: readily available…

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…

Outsourcing is a strategy that is used in English universities as well as in the United States. Describes some of the challenges and rewards associated with outsourcing in England, introduces various models for student affairs, and provides a case study of how one university approached outsourcing. (GCP)

Examines the trend away from independent college bookstores and toward outsourcing bookstores to large corporations, thereby sacrificing independence for cost efficiencies. Discusses effects of the profit motive, fear of competition, fear of declining services by private companies, criticisms of high prices, and concerns about book selection.…

This report analyzes commercializing trends in America's schools and classrooms, using data from database searches in seven categories of schoolhouse commercialism in the period 1990-97. The number of citations relating to commercializing activities can provide only a rough approximation of the scope and development of the phenomenon. The number…

Summary of the "Fifth Annual Report of Trends in Schoolhouse Commercialism" prepared by the Educational Policy Studies Laboratory's Commercialism in Education Research Unit at Arizona State University (www.schoolcommercialism.org). Includes discussion of program and activity sponsorships, exclusive agreements, incentive programs,…

The Center for the Analysis of Commercialism in Schools found that the number of press citations from 1990 to 2000 discussing seven types of commercializing activities (program sponsorship, exclusive agreements, incentive programs, appropriation of space, sponsored educational materials, electronic marketing, privatization, and fund raising)…