|
The
American School, 1642-1996, By Joel H.
Spring (McGraw Hill: New York, June 1997), 418 pages.
Amazon Price
$49.55 Soft Cover
|
The fourth edition continues its mission of providing a
history of American education that is not only comprehensive
and up-to-date, but that stimulates critical thinking on the
part of the reader. This is accomplished by placing a clear,
narrative writing style with 1) Alternative interpretations
of each major historical period and 2) By using a critical
perspective that analyses the social and economic
implications of historical events.
|
|
|
Education
and the State : A Study in Political Economy,
By E. G. West (Liberty Fund: Indianapolis,
July 1994), 364 pages.
Amazon Price
$4.00 + $5.35 (special surcharge) Soft Cover
|
West (economics, Carleton U.) explores 19th century
British reformers' and classical economists' views on
education, and addresses the American situation, applying
the lessons learned from the study of British institutions.
He examines the role of government in education and
challenges the fundamental assumption that the state is best
able to provide an education for the general population.
Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Milton Friedman states, "Education and the State was a
major accomplishment in correcting the historical
misconceptions that still pervade the general understanding
about state-run education. Those who read it will get an
understanding very different from the conventional wisdom
about how widespread, quality education can best be
promoted. The issue is a very live one today, with the
growing support for educational choice and the dismal
performance of our public school system.
|
|
Financing
Education, By Quentin L. Quade
(Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick, NJ, 1996), 166
pages.
Amazon Price
$34.95 Hard Cover
|
Financing Education examines the major
problems of American K-12 education, establishes the causal
connections with educational finance monopoly (EFM), offers
school choice without financial penalty as a powerful and
obvious cure, and examines several American school choice
proposals. It will be of interest to policymakers, policy
analysts, educators, taxpayers, parents, and all persons
concerned about America's educational quality.
|
|
|
Losing
Our Language : How Multicultural Classroom Instruction Is
Undermining Our Children's Ability to Read, Write, and
Reason [ABRIDGED], By Sandra Stotsky
(Free Press: New York, 1999), 288 pages.
Amazon Price
$18.20 Hard Cover
|
Is multiculturalism in schools a step in the right
direction? According to Stotsky, director of the Harvard
Summer Institute on Writing, Reading, and Civic Education,
the answer is an emphatic "No!" While multiculturalism was
introduced as a way to improve minority self-esteem, Stotsky
presents evidence that the gap between white and minority
students has widened since its introduction. Three areas in
which today's school texts fail--cultural, intellectual, and
demographic dishonesty--are highlighted.
|
|
|
Market
Education: The Unknown History, by
Andrew J. Coulson (Transaction Publishers: New Brunswick,
NJ, 1998).
Amazon Price
$24.95 Soft Cover
|
Touching on a wide range of issues, including declines in
academic achievement, minority education, the role of public
school teachers, and mismanagement and corruption in
educational bureaucracies, the author examines various
reform proposals. Drawing on the historical evidence of how
various systems throughout the ages have operated, Coulson
concludes that free educational markets have consistently
done a better job of serving the public's needs than
state-run school systems have. He puts forth a blueprint for
competitive, free-market educational reform that he believes
would make schools more flexible, more innovative, and more
responsive to the needs of parents and students. Also
addressed is how education for low-income children might be
funded under a market system, and how the transition from
monopolistic public education to market education might be
achieved.
|
|
Teacher
Union Bargaining: Practice and Policy,
By Gene Geisert and Myron Lieberman (Precept Press: Chicago,
1994), 293 pages.
Amazon Price
$18.95 Soft Cover
|
Two nationally recognized leaders who specialize in
relationships between school boards and teacher unions have
prepared this comprehensive reference. The authors share
lessons learned from thousands of hours at bargaining
tables. They often have served as chief negotiators and
consultants to school boards and state and local
governmental units throughout the United States and as
advisors to foreign governments. This volume addresses why
school boards must bargain, optimal make-up of the
negotiating team, guidelines in applying negotiating law,
common mistakes boards make, and contract preparation. In
addition, they analyze broad policy issues most likely to
affect across-the-table bargaining.
|
|
|
The
Troubled Crusade : American Education,
1945-1980, By Diane Ravitch
(Basic Books: February 1985).
Amazon Price
$20.00 Soft Cover
|
This book is a report on the state of the crusade against
ignorance during a particularly tumultuous time in American
history. Many other crusades stormed through the nation's
educational institutions during these thirty-five years,
sometimes complementing the crusade against ignorance, at
other times subordinating it to some other worthy or
unworthy cause. More than at any other time in American
history, the crusade against ignorance was understood to
mean a crusade for equal educational opportunity. This
widely praised history of the controversies that have beset
American schools and universities since World War II is
essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the
condition of American education today.
|
|
|
Understanding
the Teacher Union Contract: A Citizen's
Handbook, By Myron Lieberman
(Transaction Publishers, 2000), 219 pages.
Amazon Price
$21.95 Soft Cover
Amazon.com is accepting pre-publication orders now.
|
Unionization of teachers has led to fundamental changes
in the management of education and in relations between
teachers and school districts. Understanding the Teacher
Union Contract explores the implications of this
collective-bargaining revolution in education. Through
detailed examination Lieberman shows how the kinds of
provisions typically found in teacher union contracts affect
the educational workplace and education reform, and how they
might be revised to the benefit of students, parents, and
the public.
|