Description
Book SynopsisThis is a book about ethnocentric niche charter schools. What are they? When did they first appear? From where did the term come? How do they differ from regular charter schools and from district-run traditional public schools? Each subject chapter was created by a team consisting of at least one educational researcher and at least one charter school practitioner. The goal is to make the book readable for everyone (policymakers, parents, teachers, older students) while providing a framework of rigor from which to view each charter school. Hence: the teams. We took special pains to create a book which exhibits the objectivity of the educational researcher while, at the same time, inviting the reader into each school by painting a human picture of its ethos. Each chapter contains a description of the school told by people who actually taught or learned or sent their children there.
Trade ReviewBob Fox and Nina Buchanan have penned an intriguing and useful new book on a rarely-examined dimension of charter schooling, offering a thoughtful look at schools that celebrate a particular ethic, culture, or linguistic heritage. Building on a decade of their own inquiry, they explain how these schools fit within the larger framework of charter school policy and the tensions that can ensue. This is a volume that points to both the possibilities and some of the attendant challenges posed by the charter model and that promises to be invaluable reading for those engaged in charter school practice, policy, or authorizing. -- Frederick Hess, author of Letters to a Young Education Reformer; director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute
Contemporary debate about charters and school choice is dominated by the market metaphor and attention to large-scale management organizations offering standard education models designed to attract substantial enrollments. Fox and Buchanan remind us in this book about a different side of the choice movement, one rooted in social values more than economic transactions and that aims to meet different cultures on their own terms. It’s a valuable counterpoint. -- Jeffrey R. Henig, professor of political science and education, Teachers College, Columbia University, author of “Spin Cycle: How Research is Used in Policy Debates, The Case of Charter Schools”
Ethnocentric-niche public charter schools are only a small percentage of the growing number of public charter schools in the United States, but they provide opportunities for instructional innovation to enhance student learning, parental engagement and involvement, and partnerships with community organizations. Through an intriguing set of case studies, the book describes schools trying new educational strategies to provide high-quality public school experiences to students. Additionally, this book explores the primary issues raised regarding ethnocentric-niche schools, such as whether these schools will assimilate students into the larger set of democratic beliefs and values that public schools have been expected to instill and whether these schools cross legal boundaries. The book serves as a great resource for the debate on the purpose and function of public schools. -- Nina Rees, President & CEO, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools
Table of ContentsIntroduction The Growth of Ethnocentric Charter Schools Robert A. Fox and Nina K. Buchanan Chapter One Kua O Ka Lā: A Hawaiian Culturally-Focused Charter School Nina K. Buchanan, Robert A. Fox, Susan L. Osborne and C. Puanani Wilhelm Chapter Two Restoring Native American Culture and Language through Public Education Mark Blitz Chapter Three A Model for Educating African-American Students Tanikiaa Orange and Sharroky Hollie Chapter Four A Case Study of Helenic Classical Charter School Charisse Gulosino Chapter Five Immigrant Advantage: What Makes Does Science Academy Fly? Robert Maranto, Kaan Camuz and John Franklin Chapter Six A Somali School in Minneapolis Letitia E. Basford and Heather Megarry Traeger Chapter Seven A New Approach to Educating Latino English Language Learners Brenda Martinez and Mark Blitz Chapter Eight Ethnocentric Niche Charter Schools: A View Through Legal and Policy Lenses Suzanne E. Eckes and Kari A. M. Carr
