This is the first comprehensive scholarly critique of the recent literature on school reform. The essays critically analyze the three major issues that have been the focal point of reform efforts: the restructuring of teacher education programs, the reconceptualization of the social function of American high schools and colleges, and the definition of the educated individual. It brings together the work of an emerging group of revisionist scholars in this field, enlarging the scope of contemporary debate about school and educational reform.
Foreword by Maxine Greene
Preface
An Introductory Overview of the 1980s School Reform
Debate
Pentagon vs. Multinational Capitalism: The Political Economy of the
1980s School Reform Movement by Christine M. Shea
A Critique of the Concept of Work in the School Reform
Literature
A Critique of the Concept of Work and Education in the School
Reform Reports by Don T. Martin
The State's Stake in Educational Reform by Edward H. Berman
Where Computers Are Taking Us in the Educational Field by Ernest
Kahane and Andrew D. Oram
The Corporate Community on the Ideal Business-School Alliance: An
Historical and Ethical Critique by Peter Sola
Educational Reform and "The New Equity"
The Bootstrap Ideology of Educational Reform: What the Recent
Reports Say about the Current and Future Status of Blacks in Higher
Education? by Beverly M. Gordon
More of the Same: Reforms of American Public Schooling and the
Minority Language Student by Timothy G. Reagan
The Eighties Image of Girls and Women in the Educational Reform
Literature: A Review of the Issues by Kathryn M. Borman and
Patricia O'Reilly
The New Equity: Competing Visions by William T. Pink
School Reform Proposals for "The New Curriculum"
Civic Education Reform and the Quest for a Unified Society: A
Critique of R. Freeman Butts's Agenda for Civic Learning by Stuart
A. McAninch
An Evaluation of the Aims and Curriculum Proposals in Sizer's
Horace's Compromise by John Martin Rich and Joseph L. DeVitis
Is Continuing Education Anything More than a Yuppie Phenomenon? by
Paul C. Violas
Teachers, Their World, and Their Work: A Review of the Idea of
"Professional Excellence" in School Reform Reports by Richard J.
Altenbaugh
Bibliography
Index
CHRISTINE SHEA is currently a center fellow at the North
Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. Her research area
is the history of twentieth-century school and social reform
movements. She is currently completing work on a social history of
the Progressive-era mental hygiene movement.
PETER SOLA is Associate Professor of Foundations of Education at
Howard University, Washington, D.C.
ERNEST KAHANE is presently a training consultant for a number of
leading computer and high tech firms along the Boston beltway. Dr.
Kahane is also an Adjunct Professor at Boston University.
?This collection provides a critical review of three major issues
that have been the focal point of school reform efforts: the
restructuring of teacher education programs, the
reconceptualization of the social function of American high schools
and colleges, and the redefinition of the educated individual.' The
national educational reports, books, and related policy statements
that set the parameters within which much of the contemporary
education debate proceeds are given assessments in this work. The
contemporary school reform debate is considered here to reflect the
conflict between dominant economic interest groups about the most
efficient means of rebuilding labor productivity and American
economic power. The concept of work and the schools as reflected in
reform literature is also addressed. A section is devoted to how
groups and individuals who are traditionally poorly served by the
education systems fare under school reform. Specific implications
for constituents, several critical questions about the continued
inequitable distribution of resources, and recommended alternative
policies are also covered. The book goes on to analyze the
treatment of aims, attitudes, skills, and disciplines embodied in
specific curriculum proposals.?-Sage
?This is an important book because its focus is critical, and its
aim is to demystify the prevailing ideology of school reform.
Perhaps never has the argument been greater than now for democracy
and the restoration of human subjectivity and agency, two very
important aspects of this collection of critical essays. The
introductory essay is excellent in its elucidation of the world
political economy of the 1980s and current educational reforms. It
sets a clear direction for the remainder of the book, which is
noteworthy for its organizational, conceptual, and written clarity.
Topics include education reform and work, teacher education,
continuing education, and equity. In its attempt to present
alternative ways of seeing and interpreting educational/social
phenomenon, this book is one of the best to appear. The text is
refreshingly free of a lot of jargon; thus the reader is better
able to understand the complexities of educational and social
critique. Highly recommended for upper-level undergraduate and
graduate reading as well as academic library
acquisition.?-Choice
"This is an important book because its focus is critical, and its
aim is to demystify the prevailing ideology of school reform.
Perhaps never has the argument been greater than now for democracy
and the restoration of human subjectivity and agency, two very
important aspects of this collection of critical essays. The
introductory essay is excellent in its elucidation of the world
political economy of the 1980s and current educational reforms. It
sets a clear direction for the remainder of the book, which is
noteworthy for its organizational, conceptual, and written clarity.
Topics include education reform and work, teacher education,
continuing education, and equity. In its attempt to present
alternative ways of seeing and interpreting educational/social
phenomenon, this book is one of the best to appear. The text is
refreshingly free of a lot of jargon; thus the reader is better
able to understand the complexities of educational and social
critique. Highly recommended for upper-level undergraduate and
graduate reading as well as academic library
acquisition."-Choice
"This collection provides a critical review of three major issues
that have been the focal point of school reform efforts: the
restructuring of teacher education programs, the
reconceptualization of the social function of American high schools
and colleges, and the redefinition of the educated individual.' The
national educational reports, books, and related policy statements
that set the parameters within which much of the contemporary
education debate proceeds are given assessments in this work. The
contemporary school reform debate is considered here to reflect the
conflict between dominant economic interest groups about the most
efficient means of rebuilding labor productivity and American
economic power. The concept of work and the schools as reflected in
reform literature is also addressed. A section is devoted to how
groups and individuals who are traditionally poorly served by the
education systems fare under school reform. Specific implications
for constituents, several critical questions about the continued
inequitable distribution of resources, and recommended alternative
policies are also covered. The book goes on to analyze the
treatment of aims, attitudes, skills, and disciplines embodied in
specific curriculum proposals."-Sage
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
