Like other big city school systems, Chicago's has been repeatedly
"reformed" over the last century. Yet its schools have fallen far
short of citizens' expectations and left a gap between the
performances of white and minority students. Many blame the
educational establishment for resisting change. Other critics argue
that reform occurs too often; still others claim it comes not often
enough.
Dorothy Shipps reappraises the tumultuous history of educational
progress in Chicago, revealing that the persistent lack of
improvement is due not to the extent but rather the type of reform.
Throughout the twentieth century, managerial reorganizations
initiated by the business community repeatedly altered the
governance structure of schools--as well as the relationships of
teachers to children and parents--but brought little improvement,
while other more promising reform models were either resisted or
crowded out.
Shipps chronicles how Chicago's corporate actors led, abetted,
or restrained nearly every attempt to transform the city's school
system, then asks whether schools might be better reformed by
others. To show why city schools have failed urban children so
badly, she traces Chicago's reform history over four political
eras, revealing how corporate power was instrumental in designing
and revamping the system. Her narrative encompasses the formative
era of 1880-1930, when teachers' unions moderated business plans;
previously unexplored business activism from 1930 to 1980, when
civil rights dominated school reform, and the decentralization of
the 1980s. She also covers the uneasy cooperation among business
associations in the 1990s to install the mayor as head of the
school system, a governing regime now challenged by privatization
advocates.
Business people may be too wedded to a stunted view of educators
to forge a productive partnership for change. Unionized teachers
bridle at the second-class status accorded them by managers. If
reform is to reach deeply into classrooms, Shipps concludes, it
might well require a new coalition of teachers' unions and parents
to create a fresh agenda that supersedes corporate interests.
This study clearly shows that, in Chicago as elsewhere, urban
schooling is intertwined with politics and power. By reviewing more
than a century of corporate efforts to make education work, Shipps
makes a strong case that it's high time to look elsewhere--perhaps
to educators themselves--for new leadership.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
