Description
Book SynopsisAt this moment, schools are doing everything they can to win the Race to the Top. They are allocating their funding to test preparation, riffing beloved teachers, and transferring students who drag down their grade average on the state report card. This book describes the current state of the education system in the United States. Readers will be on the front lines of the protests in Madison, in the inner city public-turned-charter schools, and in the shoes of the teachers dealing with educational politics every day. By the end of this text, you may beg the question: who's winning in the Race to the Top?
Trade ReviewSchool “reform,” charter schools, mandatory testing, new funding schemes, selective admissions, curriculum changes, standards, and closures have made public schooling in America confusing. [The] biting commentary this book, written by very knowledgeable people, helps explain what’s going on. If you want information and analysis . . . here it is! -- William H. Watkins, professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
With salient political analysis from the frontlines of the struggle for public education in the United States, this collection is a must-read for educational justice workers, focusing on praxis-oriented theorizing from urban school districts in the United States. Chapters provide engaged and sharp analysis of the current punishing neoliberal landscape and examples of resistance. -- Erica R. Meiners, professor, Northeastern Illinois University
Table of ContentsForeword Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Racing to the Top, Running for the Money, and Running Away from School Funding Equity Todd Alan Price, John Duffy and Tania Giordani Part I Chicago Public Schools: A Business Control Laboratory 1: Commercial Club Curriculum: Big Business Against the Common School Todd Alan Price and John Duffy 2: A Dream Deferred: The Commodification of Chicago Public Schools Under Renaissance 2010 Tania Giordani and Andrea Lee 3: Citizen Teachers and Curricular Activism John Duffy 4: Standard Scores and Non-Standard Lives: A Recipe for Systemic Violence Terry Jo Smith 5: Science Left Behind: Reflections from a Chicago Public School Student of Science Theresa Robinson Part II Vouchers, Charters, and Mayoral Takeovers: Tools of the Great School Selloff 6: Voucher Vultures: Blueprint for Restructuring Milwaukee Public Schools Robert Miranda 7: Milwaukee League Comes to the Defense of Public Schools Todd Alan Price 8: The Privatization Pandemic: Barbarians at the Schoolhouse Door Geoff Berne 9: Clash Over Charter Schools in Ohio: Ted Strickland’s Challenge to the Obama-Duncan Wrecking Ball Geoff Berne Part III Neoliberalism: The Ideology of For-profit Public Education 10: The New Corporate Agenda: Austerity, “Shared Sacrifice” and Union Busting Jack Gerson 11: Recovering Schools and Classrooms in the Recovery School District Karen Roth 12: Four Hundred Years of Chartering John Duffy 13: Rationalizing Standards, Rationing Opportunity: Neoliberalism and the Paradox of Success in Haitian and U.S. Education Baudelaire K. Ulysse Part IV Reclaiming Education for the Public 14: Corporate Siege and the Growing Resistance Todd Alan Price 15: This is What Democracy Looks Like! T.J. Mertz Conclusion: Turning the Tide on Commercial Club “School Reform” John Duffy and Todd Alan Price About the Authors
