School Choice and School Improvement
Edited by Mark Berends, Marisa Cannata, and Ellen B. Goldring
cloth, 304 Pages
Pub. Date: March 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-934742-53-2
Price: $49.95
Add to Cart
paper, 304 Pages
Pub. Date: March 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-934742-52-5
Price: $32.00
Add to Cart
Look Inside the Book
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 public schools; and intradistrict transfer programs, adding depth and perspective to the ongoing debates about school choice options.
The authors provide rigorous research and empirical data to answer central policy questions. What is the impact of school choice on student outcomes? In systems that provide school choice, do parents choose to move their children from low-achieving schools to higher-achieving schools? Does school choice result in increased competition among schools? What is the relationship between school choice and racial or ethnic segregation in the schools?
The chapters in this volume collectively exemplify the directions in which research on school choice is developing and push the field toward a more systematic and nuanced understanding of the impact of school choice.
Praise
What a gift for the inquisitive reader on school choice! The variety of topics and willingness of the authors to ponder what has been learned from the evidence is in stark contrast to the usual ideological lectures and interpretation. The reader will learn much about current policy questions and answers, and the further questions that arise from the evidence.
— Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
School choice is a heated topic in education policy circles, often driven more by political proclivities than by solid data and analysis. In this volume, noted scholars use hard analytic lenses, rich data, and sophisticated methods to examine school choice as a nuanced education reform strategy that transcends standard political platitudes.
— Jane Hannaway, director, Education Policy Center, the Urban Institute/Calder Center
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About the Editors
Mark Berends is Professor of Sociology, director of Notre Dame’s Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, and director of the National Center on School Choice. He also serves on several editorial boards, technical panels, and policy forums and recently ended his term as vice president of the American Educational Research Association’s Division L, Educational Policy and Politics. Professor Berends’ research focuses on the ways school organization and classroom instruction are related to student achievement, with special attention to disadvantaged students. Within this agenda, he has applied a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the effects of school reforms on teachers and students. He is the author or editor of numerous articles and books, most recently including Examining Gaps in Mathematics Achievement Among Racial-Ethnic Groups, Charter School Outcomes, Leading with Data: Pathways to Improve Your School, and Handbook of Research on School Choice.
Marisa Cannata is senior research associate in the department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations and associate director of the National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University. Her research interests focus on school choice and teacher quality policies, including induction, teacher career decisions, work experiences, and hiring. Dr. Cannata has a PhD in Educational Policy from Michigan State University.
Ellen B. Goldring is Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair and Professor of Education Policy and Leadership, and chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, where she has received the Alexander Heard Distinguished Professor award. Professor Goldring’s two primary research foci are school reform efforts that connect families, communities, and schools, with a focus on schools of choice; and the changing roles of school leaders and leadership effectiveness. Her books include School Choice in Urban America, Leading with Data: Pathways to Improve Your School, and From the Courtroom to the Classroom: The Shifting Landscape of School Desegregation.