There is no shortage of opinions on the legacy that George W. Bush will leave as 43rd President of the United States. Recognizing that Bush the Younger has been variously described as dimwitted, opportunistic, innovative, and bold, it would be presumptuous to draw any hard and fast conclusions about how history will view him. Nevertheless, it is well within academia's ability to begin to make preliminary judgments by weighing the evidence we do have and testing assumptions.
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the initially successful military campaign in Afghanistan, Bush and his administration enjoyed nearly unprecedented popularity. But after failures in Iraq and in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Bush's approval ratings plummeted. Guided by a new framework, "Judging Bush" boldly takes steps to evaluate the highs and lows of the Bush legacy according to four types of competence: strategic, political, tactical, and moral. It offers a first look at the man, his domestic and foreign policies, and the executive office's relationship to the legislative and judicial branches from a distinguished and ideologically diverse set of award-winning political scientists and White House veterans. Topics include Bush's decision-making style, the management of the executive branch, the role and influence of Dick Cheney, elections and party realignment, the Bush economy, Hurricane Katrina, No Child Left Behind, and competing treatments of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Contributors include Lara M. Brown, David B. Cohen, Jeffrey E. Cohen, Laura Conley, Jack Covarrubias, John J. DiIulio, Jr., William A. Galston, Frederick M. Hess, Karen M. Hult, Lori A. Johnson, Robert G. Kaufman, Anne M. Khademian, Lawrence J. Korb, Patrick McGuinn, Michael Moreland, Costas Panagopoulos, James P. Pfiffner, Richard E. Redding, Neil Reedy, Andrew Rudalevige, Charles E. Walcott, and Shirley Anne Warshaw.

This is the first large-scale aggregate data study of career-noncareer relations in U.S. administrations. This research is put into the perspective of a succinct history of relations between careerists and political appointees. Interviews and comments from more than 50 surveys add further color and provide interesting impressions about relations during the Reagan administration. Findings lead to new, important conclusions and suggestions for reform. Political scientists, policymakers, public administrators, and historians will find this work valuable considering bureaucratic and political problems. Using a data base including 118 political appointees and 513 high-level career bureaucrats from 15 federal organizations in the Reagan administration, Maranto tests numerous propositions from political science and public administration concerning career-noncareer relations in the U.S. executive branch of government. The study starts with a history of the civil service, describes career-noncareer relations in the modern presidency, and then examines the Reagan administration. Maranto's findings indicate that the Reagan administration used ideological criteria in personnel policy but on a more modest scale than many have believed. A number of reforms are proposed for improving executive relationships.

This book offers a sophisticated overview of President Obama's education agenda, exploring how and why education policy became national and ultimately presidential over the past seven decades. The authors argue that the Obama education agenda, though more ambitious, is broadly in line with those of recent presidencies, reflecting elite views that since substantial increases in spending have failed to improve equity and achievement, public schools require reforms promoting transparency such as the Common Core national standards, as well as market based reforms such as charter schools. While sympathetic to President Obama's goals, the authors argue that the processes used to implement those goals, particularly national standards, have been hurried and lacked public input. The Obama administration's overreach on school reform has sparked a bipartisan backlash. Even so, Maranto, McShane, and Rhinesmith suspect that the next president will be an education reformer, reflecting an enduring elite consensus behind school reform.

This book features contributions from leading experts who present peer reviewed research on how the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic affected U.S. teachers, students, parents, teaching practices, enrolments, and institutional innovations, offering the first empirical findings exploring educational impacts likely to last for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic presented the greatest crisis in the history of U.S. schooling, with America’s 50 states, thousands of school systems, and tens of thousands of private and charter schools responding in myriad ways. This book brings together peer reviewed, empirical research on how U.S. schools responded, and on the educational and health impacts likely to last for decades. Contributors explore how the U.S. responses differed from those in other countries, with slower reopening, and both reopening and modes of instruction varying widely across states and school sectors. Compared to European countries, U.S. responses to reopening schools reflected political influences more than health or educational needs, though this was less true in market-based private and charter schools. The pandemic was a catalyst for school choice movements across the U.S. Many parents reacted to school closings by exploring alternatives to traditional public schools, including an important and likely permanent innovation, small, parent-created or “pod” schools. As the papers here detail, long term student learning loss and health and socioemotional impacts of COVID-19 closings may well last for decades. The volume concludes by exploring teacher experiences across different sectors following the pandemic. COVID-19 and Schools will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of education, education policy and leadership, educational research, research methods, economics, sociology and psychology. The chapters included in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of School Choice.

Educating Believers: Religion and School Choice offers theoretical essays and empirical studies from leading researchers on religion and schooling. Religious authority and emphasis on fairness and caring provide consistent rules governing the stable family and community relationships needed for individual growth and collective action. Religion is among the most important aspects of human life, likely hard-wired into human beings, and intimately intertwined with schooling. The book addresses key matters regarding religious pluralism in education, including the history of state-faith relationships in schooling, how religious faith can motivate teachers, whether religious education teaches tolerance, and whether practices in Europe and Asia hold lessons for American schools. The works in this volume can guide future scholarship on religious pluralism in education, particularly work related to civic values, character formation and public policy. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of School Choice.

School choice is the most talked about reform of American public education, yet writings about choice remain highly speculative because no state has adopted a free market approach to education--until now. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools op

With the largest popular vote majority in two decades, large gains in Congress, and entering office at a time of economic crisis and two wars, President Barack Obama was seemingly poised to become America's strongest and most influential president since Ronald Reagan. However, President Obama's first year in office has led to some notable surprises with a seemingly incremental approach-he has let Congress take the lead on his signature initiatives, expanding health care coverage and an economic stimulus, while continuing a trajectory begun by his predecessor in only gradually pulling out of Iraq and expanding as well as reforming the U.S. role in Afghanistan. What accounts for the political stability and change demonstrated by the Obama administration? Which factors shaping a presidency are structural, which are personal, and which are driven by events? How will decisions made in the first two years of the administration affect its future course? What lessons can we glean from past presidencies? This timely volume of notable thinkers on the presidency presents scholarly as well as applied insights on Obama's administration at the half-way point. Assessing the political context of his first two years, the inter-branch relations, and policy developments all provide the necessary grounding for students to make sense of the continuity and change that Barack Obama represents.

Here is a short edited volume that brings together in one place, the best scholarly articles in charter schooling by national experts and leaders, written in a user-friendly fashion. It is the ideal introduction for those interested in the charter school movement with numerous insights for and by charter operators, administrators, and teachers as well as the academic community. The volume starts with essays explaining the history of education reforms past, in particular why their failures make charters a necessity. Additional essays examine such research questions as whether class size matters, how to end the teacher shortage, routes to alternative certification, why urban school reform fails, and how to make merit pay work. The second section includes essays outlining the key research on charter schools. Chapters examine such questions as how charter schools compare to district schools, how non-profit charters compare to for-profit charters, what determines teacher quality, and how the small size of charters makes for complex questions of accountability. The final section includes personal reflections, tips and horror stories from charter operators. In particular, essays examine why most charters have a tough first year, the difficulties of converting a private school to a charter, how to manage facilities, how to obtain grant money, and how to do good charter marketing.

Educating Believers: Religion and School Choice offers theoretical essays and empirical studies from leading researchers on religion and schooling. Religious authority and emphasis on fairness and caring provide consistent rules governing the stable family and community relationships needed for individual growth and collective action. Religion is among the most important aspects of human life, likely hard-wired into human beings, and intimately intertwined with schooling. The book addresses key matters regarding religious pluralism in education, including the history of state-faith relationships in schooling, how religious faith can motivate teachers, whether religious education teaches tolerance, and whether practices in Europe and Asia hold lessons for American schools. The works in this volume can guide future scholarship on religious pluralism in education, particularly work related to civic values, character formation and public policy. The chapters in this book were originally published in the Journal of School Choice.

With rare exceptions, few large institutions change bosses every two or three years. Yet the U.S. Government has temps on top. Thousands of political appointees come in to run an agency or department and depart soon after, at the whims of the electorate, due to inside-the-Beltway bureaucratic politics, or because of their own ambitions. Many career bureaucrats view their temporary political bosses as "ins and outers," "birds of passage," or, more derisively, "Christmas help." Yet for better or worse, the number of Santa's helpers has doubled since 1960 even as the length of their stay in government has declined. Numerous scholars advocate reform of the political appointment process, and many primers have appeared to help the appointees adjust to life inside the Beltway. Beyond a Government of Strangers is the first book to focus on the men and women who stick around, on the career executives and their own roles in the executive branch. Robert Maranto provides pithy and sage advice on how career leaders can improve tenuous relationships and overcome conflicts with political appointees, especially during presidential transitions. He offers a rare insider's perspective, with the first-person account of former Deputy Counsel of the Navy Harvey Wilcox and quotations taken from interviews with scores of career executives. Included in the book are helpful strategies such as "Ten Tips on Managing Your Political Boss" and invaluable details such as how careerists at different Federal agencies handle the orientation of new appointees. The wisdom collected here will ensure more effective relationships in our government as well as more astute scholars of public administration. No one working inside the Beltway can afford to miss this book.

Education began on the most intimate levels: the family and the community. With industrialization, education became professionalized and bureaucratized, typically conducted in schools rather than homes. Over the past half century, however, schooling has increasingly returned home, both in the United States and across the globe. This reflects several trends, including greater affluence and smaller family size leading parents to focus more on child well-being; declining faith in professionals (including educators); and the Internet, whose resources facilitate home education. In the United States, students who are homeschooled for at least part of their childhood outnumber those in charter schools. Yet remarkably little research addresses homeschooling. This book brings together work from 20 researchers, addressing a range of homeschooling topics, including the evolving legal and institutional frameworks behind home education; why some parents make this choice; home education educational environments; special education; and outcomes regarding both academic achievement and political tolerance. In short, this book offers the most up-to-date research to guide policy makers and home educators, a matter of great importance given the agenda of the current presidential administration. The chapters in this book were originally published as articles in the Journal of School Choice.

Education began on the most intimate levels: the family and the community. With industrialization, education became professionalized and bureaucratized, typically conducted in schools rather than homes. Over the past half century, however, schooling has increasingly returned home, both in the United States and across the globe. This reflects several trends, including greater affluence and smaller family size leading parents to focus more on child well-being; declining faith in professionals (including educators); and the Internet, whose resources facilitate home education. In the United States, students who are homeschooled for at least part of their childhood outnumber those in charter schools. Yet remarkably little research addresses homeschooling. This book brings together work from 20 researchers, addressing a range of homeschooling topics, including the evolving legal and institutional frameworks behind home education; why some parents make this choice; home education educational environments; special education; and outcomes regarding both academic achievement and political tolerance. In short, this book offers the most up-to-date research to guide policy makers and home educators, a matter of great importance given the agenda of the current presidential administration. The chapters in this book were originally published as articles in the Journal of School Choice.

With the largest popular vote majority in two decades, large gains in Congress, and entering office at a time of economic crisis and two wars, President Barack Obama was seemingly poised to become America's strongest and most influential president since Ronald Reagan. However, President Obama's first year in office has led to some notable surprises with a seemingly incremental approach-he has let Congress take the lead on his signature initiatives, expanding health care coverage and an economic stimulus, while continuing a trajectory begun by his predecessor in only gradually pulling out of Iraq and expanding as well as reforming the U.S. role in Afghanistan. What accounts for the political stability and change demonstrated by the Obama administration? Which factors shaping a presidency are structural, which are personal, and which are driven by events? How will decisions made in the first two years of the administration affect its future course? What lessons can we glean from past presidencies? This timely volume of notable thinkers on the presidency presents scholarly as well as applied insights on Obama's administration at the half-way point. Assessing the political context of his first two years, the inter-branch relations, and policy developments all provide the necessary grounding for students to make sense of the continuity and change that Barack Obama represents.

School choice is the most talked about reform of American public education, yet writings about choice remain highly speculative because no state has adopted a free market approach to education--until now. The charter school is fast becoming one of the most significant attempts at public education reform in this country. Over 1100 charter schools operate in twenty-seven states, with several hundred more to be added in the next two years. "School Choice in the Real World" looks at the charter school movement through a highly focused lens: it examines charter schools in Arizona, which currently account for nearly one-quarter of all charter schools.Since 1994, Arizona has implemented a charter school law with the lowest barriers to entry in the nation. As a result, Arizona has more than 200 charter school campuses. Some districts have even lost more than 10% of their students to charter schools. Using the state of Arizona as a case study, the editors examine the experiences of actual charter school operators, social scientific analysis, policy discussions, and criticism and forecasting for the future. The editors bring together academics, policy-makers, and practicioners, and they explain and evaluate how school choice works in the real world.

Political correctness if one of the primary enemies of freedom of thought in higher education today, undermining our ability to acquire, transmit, and process knowledge. Political correctness limits the variation of ideas by an ideologically driven concern for hue rather than view. This volume is not simply another rant; there are good data here, along with well-crafted, hard-to-ignore logical interpretations and arguments. It is the sort of work that those who adhere to idea-limiting notions of the university will try to trivialize. That alone should make it important reading. --Michael Schwartz, president emeritus, Kent State University and Cleveland State University

There is no shortage of opinions on the legacy that George W. Bush will leave as 43rd President of the United States. Recognizing that Bush the Younger has been variously described as dimwitted, opportunistic, innovative, and bold, it would be presumptuous to draw any hard and fast conclusions about how history will view him. Nevertheless, it is well within academia's ability to begin to make preliminary judgments by weighing the evidence we do have and testing assumptions.
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and the initially successful military campaign in Afghanistan, Bush and his administration enjoyed nearly unprecedented popularity. But after failures in Iraq and in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Bush's approval ratings plummeted. Guided by a new framework, "Judging Bush" boldly takes steps to evaluate the highs and lows of the Bush legacy according to four types of competence: strategic, political, tactical, and moral. It offers a first look at the man, his domestic and foreign policies, and the executive office's relationship to the legislative and judicial branches from a distinguished and ideologically diverse set of award-winning political scientists and White House veterans. Topics include Bush's decision-making style, the management of the executive branch, the role and influence of Dick Cheney, elections and party realignment, the Bush economy, Hurricane Katrina, No Child Left Behind, and competing treatments of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Contributors include Lara M. Brown, David B. Cohen, Jeffrey E. Cohen, Laura Conley, Jack Covarrubias, John J. DiIulio, Jr., William A. Galston, Frederick M. Hess, Karen M. Hult, Lori A. Johnson, Robert G. Kaufman, Anne M. Khademian, Lawrence J. Korb, Patrick McGuinn, Michael Moreland, Costas Panagopoulos, James P. Pfiffner, Richard E. Redding, Neil Reedy, Andrew Rudalevige, Charles E. Walcott, and Shirley Anne Warshaw.