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The MIT Press Essential Knowledge
School Choice
An accessible guide to the major issues and arguments surrounding school choice.
The issues and arguments surrounding school choice are sometimes hijacked to make political points about government control, democratic ideals, the public good, and privatization. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, David Garcia avoids partisan arguments to offer an accessible, objective, and comprehensive guide to school choice. He first outlines the different types of school choice, including home schooling, private schools, freedom-of-choice plans, magnet schools, charter schools, vouchers, and education savings accounts. Two themes emerge as particularly resonant in the American school choice debate: the long history of school desegregation, and debates over the roles and responsibilities of government. Is education a public good, for the collective benefit of society, or a private good, to benefit the individual?
Garcia describes and evaluates the major arguments supporting school choice policies: the elimination of government bureaucracies, the introduction of competition into education through market forces, the promotion of parental choice, and the casting of school choice as a civil right. He examines the research on the effects of school choice and summarizes general trends. Finally, he considers how school choice policies are likely to evolve. He notes that the Trump administration's Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is an advocate for school choice, and that the administration's budget allocations signal a deliberate shift from long-standing federal policies that provide supplemental funding for low-income schools. Instead, new policies provide incentives for low-income families to leave public schools altogether through choice. This book will be an essential resource for participating in the debates that are sure to follow.
The issues and arguments surrounding school choice are sometimes hijacked to make political points about government control, democratic ideals, the public good, and privatization. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, David Garcia avoids partisan arguments to offer an accessible, objective, and comprehensive guide to school choice. He first outlines the different types of school choice, including home schooling, private schools, freedom-of-choice plans, magnet schools, charter schools, vouchers, and education savings accounts. Two themes emerge as particularly resonant in the American school choice debate: the long history of school desegregation, and debates over the roles and responsibilities of government. Is education a public good, for the collective benefit of society, or a private good, to benefit the individual?
Garcia describes and evaluates the major arguments supporting school choice policies: the elimination of government bureaucracies, the introduction of competition into education through market forces, the promotion of parental choice, and the casting of school choice as a civil right. He examines the research on the effects of school choice and summarizes general trends. Finally, he considers how school choice policies are likely to evolve. He notes that the Trump administration's Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is an advocate for school choice, and that the administration's budget allocations signal a deliberate shift from long-standing federal policies that provide supplemental funding for low-income schools. Instead, new policies provide incentives for low-income families to leave public schools altogether through choice. This book will be an essential resource for participating in the debates that are sure to follow.
- GenresEducationNonfiction
216 pages, Paperback
Published September 18, 2018
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About the author
David R. Garcia
6 booksDavid R. Garcia is Associate Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. A former Arizona Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction, he was Arizona's Democratic candidate for governor in 2018. He is the author of School Choice, a volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 5, 2020
This is an interesting and informative read which provides a good overview school choice, from its history to the types of choice available, and current arguments for and against. It does well at explaining the political and economic principles that guide the debate and examines the effectiveness of policies based on available data.
Where it falls short, however, is that it omits some of the underlying ideologies that drive parental choice. There is no mention of the secularization of public education nor the largely Christian counter-push into home schooling. Even a brief summary of such would have been helpful. An understanding of the debate is incomplete without one.
It does give a lot of information on charter schools, which is important to me as my children attend a non-profit charter. There is much I didn’t know about charter schools that I do now.
My own opinions on school choice remain mostly unchanged, though they are reinforced by a better understanding.
3 Stars
Where it falls short, however, is that it omits some of the underlying ideologies that drive parental choice. There is no mention of the secularization of public education nor the largely Christian counter-push into home schooling. Even a brief summary of such would have been helpful. An understanding of the debate is incomplete without one.
It does give a lot of information on charter schools, which is important to me as my children attend a non-profit charter. There is much I didn’t know about charter schools that I do now.
My own opinions on school choice remain mostly unchanged, though they are reinforced by a better understanding.
3 Stars
May 17, 2020
Informative on the different types of schools, but the book has no opinions one way or the other (which I guess is by design).
March 8, 2021
The book really deserves 4.5 stars, given how well it's written and how well it - without bias - informs on the topic of School Choice in the USA. The information in this book is very well presented, but didn't resonate very much with me since I live in a different part of the world. I'm still happy to have learned about School Choice, which I'm sure is also relevant in my part of the world (though this book did not cover it).
January 8, 2022
short and concise overview of the problem and some literature supporting various arguments.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews