The private sector, including private schools, nonpublic schools, and homeschools, offers a wide variety of education programs for difficult-to-educate students. These students include the overlapping categories of at-risk youth, adjudicated youth, and children with disabilities. This report provides an overview of private-sector programs that…

Privatization calls for substantially trimming the scope and breadth of government services, replacing them with private or other nongovernmental operators. The attraction of privatization is reduced costs and increased management flexibility. To date, the arrangement has received substantial support from students and parents in situations that…

This paper examines the role played by educational reform (as advocated by economic rationalism) in the economic destruction of Australian society. It is argued that two mechanisms for containing economic difficulties are the plundering of the nation state and the application of new technologies of production. Strategies of educational reform, as…

Student unions of the 80's struggled to try to find the proper balance between service and education while meeting financial requirements as institutional support began to ebb. Upgrading food service, serving alcoholic beverages, and offering packaged events and mini-courses were all used to serve the needs of the student population as well as…

The handbook is intended to serve as a basic guide to California practices in the use of contracted nonpublic school (NPS) or agency (NPA) services to provide a free appropriate public education to eligible handicapped children. The handbook covers: an overview of requirements for nonpublic, nonsectarian special education school and agency…

This report by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is the first comprehensive effort to assess student achievement in public schools managed by Mosaica Education, Inc., one of the leading private management companies in education, marketing itself to charter boards and school districts since 1997. Schools examined in the report had been…

As colleges and universities attempt to produce additional revenue and enhance their services, more are entering into contracts with private companies. Some agreements involve lengthy commitments, and this means that outsourcing contracts require thorough review by boards of trustees, which are being called upon to act with greater diligence to…

Little has been written about how to manage school-district conflict produced by a privatization initiative. This paper presents findings of a case study that investigated the politics of implementing a privatization initiative in a Michigan school district. The case demonstrates that no board of education should initiate a public discussion about…

School violence is an increasingly serious problem, especially in big cities and public schools. This publication surveys popular methods of violence prevention and divides them into three classes: school-management measures, environmental modification, and educational and curriculum-based measures. The review also considers structural conditions…

This book examines the interplay between government and society, analyzing the social capital both within the African American community and outside it, where social capital crosses racial lines. It shows that while Black social capital may have created solidarity against White domination in Baltimore, it hampered African American leaders'…

The chapters in this book address a range of issues of interest to school directors, teachers, and parents and are intended to promote discussion about educational alternatives. A basic premise is that in the not-too-distant future, education will be provided where and when students and their parents can best access it, with educational venues and…

As state governments realize that ignoring the child welfare status quo will victimize more children and increase state agencies' difficulties, they have begun implementing various reform ideas. Efforts to reform the family court system face many obstacles (turf battles among government agencies, inadequate numbers of attorneys, and lack of…

This report presents findings from the evaluation of the second year of the professional services agreement between the Detroit, Michigan, Public Schools and Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. Under a contract with the school system, Sylvan attempted to improve the reading achievement of low-achieving students in 10 Title 1 schools. The program…

What exactly is globalization, and how often does it manifest itself? What spheres of human activity does it affect, and how does it affect them? What implications does this phenomenon have for education systems and for educational planning? This booklet examines what globalization implies for the context in which education-sector work is carried…

Examines neoliberal educational policies in England and New Zealand related to school autonomy, school choice, private sector involvement, privatization, and accountability mechanisms. Argues that the rhetoric of neoliberal schooling policies is far removed from their reality, as governments confront the classic tension between fiscal imperatives…