School Choice And The Future Of American Democracy

Download School Choice And The Future Of American Democracy full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online School Choice And The Future Of American Democracy ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

School Choice and the Future of American Democracy

Author : Scott Franklin Abernathy
Publisher : University of Michigan Press
ISBN 13 : 9780472022229
Total Pages : 176 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (222 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis School Choice and the Future of American Democracy by : Scott Franklin Abernathy

Download or read book School Choice and the Future of American Democracy written by Scott Franklin Abernathy and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-11-12 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In School Choice and the Future of American Democracy, Scott Franklin Abernathy shows what is lost in the school choice debate. Abernathy looks at parents as citizens who exert power over the educational system through everything from their votes on school budgets to their membership on school boards. Challenging the assumption that public schools will improve when confronted with market-based reforms, Abernathy examines the possibility that public schools will become more disconnected and isolated as civic life is privatized. Scott Abernathy takes up big questions and provides answers grounded in the complex reality of policy and politics. School Choice and the Future of American Democracy is a book written for those who understand that the world does not fit the simple explanations too often put forward. --Clarence Stone, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland, and Research Professor, George Washington University Will school choice revive or eviscerate democratic processes and institutions? Will it narrow or exacerbate the range of educational inequities? This book takes several differently angled slices into these questions and draws intriguing answers. --Jeffrey R. Henig, Teachers College, Columbia University, and author of Rethinking School Choice: Limits of the Market Metaphor Through extensive research and refreshingly impartial analysis, Scott Abernathy probes how the use of market principles to reform public schools affects democratic citizenship. Treating citizens first and foremost as customers, he finds, threatens civic engagement and the well-being of schools, especially in the nation's neediest communities. This thoughtful and balanced appraisal is must-reading for those concerned about the future of American education and democracy. --Suzanne Mettler, Alumni Associate Professor, Syracuse University, and author of Soldiers to Citizens: The G.I. Bill and the Making of the Greatest Generation Scott Franklin Abernathy is Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Minnesota

The Institutions of American Democracy

Author : Susan Fuhrman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019517030X
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (951 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Institutions of American Democracy by : Susan Fuhrman

Download or read book The Institutions of American Democracy written by Susan Fuhrman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From curriculum standards and testing to school choice and civic learning, issues in American education are some of the most debated in the United States. The Institutions of American Democracy , a collection of essays by the nation's leading education scholars and professionals, is designed to inform the debate and stimulate change.In association with the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Institutions of American Democracy is the first in a series of books commissioned to enhance public understanding of the nature and function of democratic institutions. A national advisory board--including, among others, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, David Boren, John Brademas, Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, David Gergen, and Lee Hamilton--will guide the vision of the project, which includes future volumes on the press and the three branches of government.Each essay in The Institutions of American Democracy addresses essential questions for policymakers, educators, and anyone committed to public education. What role should public education play in a democracy? How has that role changed through American history? Have the schools lost sight of their responsibility to teach civics and citizenship? How are current debates about education shaping the future of this democratic institution?Among the contributors are William Galston, Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland;Clarence Stone, Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland - College Park and editor of Changing Urban Education and Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988 (University Press of Kansas, 1998).; Susan Moore Johnson, Pforzheimer Professor of Education in Learning and Teaching, Harvard University; Michael Johanek, Executive Director of K-12 Professional Development, College Board; Kathy Simon, co-executive director of the Coalition for Essential Schools and author of Moral Questions in the Classroom (Yale University Press, 2001); and Jennifer Hochschild, Professor of Government and Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and author of Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation (Princeton University Press, 1995).

The Public Schools

Author : Susan Fuhrman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199883564
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (998 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Public Schools by : Susan Fuhrman

Download or read book The Public Schools written by Susan Fuhrman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-05-26 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From curriculum standards and testing to school choice and civic learning, issues in American education are some of the most debated in the United States. The Institutions of American Democracy , a collection of essays by the nation's leading education scholars and professionals, is designed to inform the debate and stimulate change. In association with the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands and the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, The Institutions of American Democracy is the first in a series of books commissioned to enhance public understanding of the nature and function of democratic institutions. A national advisory board--including, among others, Nancy Kassebaum Baker, David Boren, John Brademas, Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, David Gergen, and Lee Hamilton--will guide the vision of the project, which includes future volumes on the press and the three branches of government. Each essay in The Institutions of American Democracy addresses essential questions for policymakers, educators, and anyone committed to public education. What role should public education play in a democracy? How has that role changed through American history? Have the schools lost sight of their responsibility to teach civics and citizenship? How are current debates about education shaping the future of this democratic institution? Among the contributors are William Galston, Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland;Clarence Stone, Professor in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland - College Park and editor of Changing Urban Education and Regime Politics: Governing Atlanta, 1946-1988 (University Press of Kansas, 1998).; Susan Moore Johnson, Pforzheimer Professor of Education in Learning and Teaching, Harvard University; Michael Johanek, Executive Director of K-12 Professional Development, College Board; Kathy Simon, co-executive director of the Coalition for Essential Schools and author of Moral Questions in the Classroom (Yale University Press, 2001); and Jennifer Hochschild, Professor of Government and Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and author of Facing Up to the American Dream: Race, Class, and the Soul of the Nation (Princeton University Press, 1995).

Public Education

Author : David C. Berliner
Publisher : Teachers College Press
ISBN 13 : 0807766097
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (77 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Public Education by : David C. Berliner

Download or read book Public Education written by David C. Berliner and published by Teachers College Press. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Twenty-eight eminent essayists remind our nations parents, educators, school board members and politicians that our democracy is in jeopardy and that our nation's system of free universal public education is also under attack. If that attack succeeds, American democracy itself would be further imperiled. That is because American democracy rests on a belief that the power of our government comes from the people, and the diffusion of knowledge and the enlightenment of the people has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic. America's public schools, therefore, have a special mandate"--

Besieged

Author : William G. Howell
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0815797699
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Besieged by : William G. Howell

Download or read book Besieged written by William G. Howell and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2005-04-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: School boards are fighting for their survival. Almost everything that they do is subject to regulations handed down from city councils, state boards of education, legislatures, and courts. As recent mayoral and state takeovers in such cities as Baltimore, Chicago, and New York make abundantly clear, school boards that do not fulfill the expectations of other political players may be stripped of what few independent powers they still retain. Teachers unions exert growing influence over board decision-making processes. And with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government has aggressively inserted itself into matters of local education governance. B esieged is the first full-length volume in many years to systematically examine the politics that surround school boards. A group of highly renowned scholars, relying on both careful case studies and quantitative analyses, examine how school boards fare when they interact with their political superiors, teachers unions, and the public. For the most part, the picture that emerges is sobering: while school boards perform certain administrative functions quite well, the political pressures they face undermine their capacity to institute the wide-ranging school reforms that many voters and local leaders are currently demanding.

The Politics of School Choice

Author : Hubert Morken
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780847697212
Total Pages : 356 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (972 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Politics of School Choice by : Hubert Morken

Download or read book The Politics of School Choice written by Hubert Morken and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1999 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Politics of School Choice is the first comprehensive examination of diverse efforts to promote tax credits, public vouchers, private scholarships, and charter schools. Morken and Formicola provide the most current national report on the burgeoning American school choice movement. They analyze the strategies and tactics being used by a wide variety of individuals and organizations to leverage change, pass laws, win court cases, and mobilize community support to build successful, winning, school choice coalitions. Based largely on extensive interviews, documentary research, and surveys, this book covers the spectrum of school choice options and shows how they are being promoted in the United States today. It explains who the players are, what types of programs they endorse, and the various rationales behind them. The authors report the views of the entrepreneurs, religious leaders, heads of think tanks and foundations, public litigators, scholars, activists, minority leaders, and politicians who are in the forefront of providing parents with resources for educational alternatives. Finally, Morken and Formicola cover the strengths and weaknesses of the school choice issue, concluding that the movement has a wide ranging membership, that is uneven in its implementation, and that it is taking different forms in various regions of the country. As the pace of change accelerates and new school choice programs proliferate, this study is a critical resource for all those concerned about the present and future staus of American education.

Schoolhouse Burning

Author : Derek W. Black
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1541774388
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (417 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Schoolhouse Burning by : Derek W. Black

Download or read book Schoolhouse Burning written by Derek W. Black and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The full-scale assault on public education threatens not just public education but American democracy itself. Public education as we know it is in trouble. Derek W. Black, a legal scholar and tenacious advocate, shows how major democratic and constitutional developments are intimately linked to the expansion of public education throughout American history. Schoolhouse Burningis grounded in pathbreaking, original research into how the nation, in its infancy, built itself around public education and, following the Civil War, enshrined education as a constitutional right that forever changed the trajectory of our democracy. Public education, alongside the right to vote, was the cornerstone of the recovery of the war-torn nation. Today's current schooling trends -- the declining commitment to properly fund public education and the well-financed political agenda to expand vouchers and charter schools -- present a major assault on the democratic norms that public education represents and risk undermining one of the unique accomplishments of American society.

The Democratic Dilemma of American Education

Author : Arnold Shober
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0429972512
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Democratic Dilemma of American Education by : Arnold Shober

Download or read book The Democratic Dilemma of American Education written by Arnold Shober and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compelling new book asks: How can American education policy be consistent with democratic ideals? Robust democracy is the combination of participation, self-rule, equality, understanding, and inclusion, but these norms can produce contradictory policy. Local control in education policy can undermine educational equality. Participation in teachers unions can improve working conditions but thwart self-rule by local taxpayers. The Democratic Dilemma of American Education draws on contemporary research in political science and education policy to offer remarkably balanced insights into these challenging issues. Expertly navigating through local, state, and federal layers of education policy, Arnold Shober examines contemporary controversies over education governance, teachers unions and collective bargaining, school funding, school choice, academic accountability, and desegregation. Shober describes the inherent practical dilemmas of current policy and the difficulties policymakers face in overcoming them to produce lasting educational reform in a democratic, federal system of government. Timely, engaging, and accessible, this is the ideal resource for courses in public policy as well as education and politics.

School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy

Author : Robert Asen
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271091509
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy by : Robert Asen

Download or read book School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy written by Robert Asen and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evidence shows that the increasing privatization of K–12 education siphons resources away from public schools, resulting in poorer learning conditions, underpaid teachers, and greater inequality. But, as Robert Asen reveals here, the damage that market-based education reform inflicts on society runs much deeper. At their core, these efforts are antidemocratic. Arguing that democratic communities and public education need one another, Asen examines the theory driving privatization, popularized in the neoliberalism of Milton and Rose Friedman, as well as the case for school choice promoted by former secretary of education Betsy DeVos and the controversial voucher program of former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. What Asen finds is that a market-based approach holds not just a different view of distributing education but a different vision of society. When the values of the market—choice, competition, and self-interest—shape national education, that policy produces individuals, Asen contends, with no connections to community and no obligations to one another. The result is a society at odds with democracy. Probing and thought-provoking, School Choice and the Betrayal of Democracy features interviews with local, on-the-ground advocates for public education and offers a countering vision of democratic education—one oriented toward civic relationships, community, and equality. This book is essential reading for policymakers, advocates of public education, citizens, and researchers.

The Fight for Local Control

Author : Campbell F. Scribner
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501704109
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Fight for Local Control by : Campbell F. Scribner

Download or read book The Fight for Local Control written by Campbell F. Scribner and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-06-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the twentieth century, local control of school districts was one of the most contentious issues in American politics. As state and federal regulation attempted to standardize public schools, conservatives defended local prerogative as a bulwark of democratic values. Yet their commitment to those values was shifting and selective. In The Fight for Local Control, Campbell F. Scribner demonstrates how, in the decades after World War II, suburban communities appropriated legacies of rural education to assert their political autonomy and in the process radically changed educational law. Scribner’s account unfolds on the metropolitan fringe, where rapid suburbanization overlapped with the consolidation of thousands of small rural schools. Rural residents initially clashed with their new neighbors, but by the 1960s the groups had rallied to resist government oversight. What began as residual opposition to school consolidation would transform into campaigns against race-based busing, unionized teachers, tax equalization, and secular curriculum. In case after case, suburban conservatives carved out new rights for local autonomy, stifling equal educational opportunity. Yet Scribner also provides insight into why many conservatives have since abandoned localism for policies that stress school choice and federal accountability. In the 1970s, as new battles arose over unions, textbooks, and taxes, districts on the rural-suburban fringe became the first to assert individual choice in the form of school vouchers, religious exemptions, and a marketplace model of education. At the same time, they began to embrace tax limitation and standardized testing, policies that checked educational bureaucracy but bypassed local school boards. The effect, Scribner concludes, has been to reinforce inequalities between districts while weakening participatory government within them, keeping the worst aspects of local control in place while forfeiting its virtues.

School Choice and Social Controversy

Author : Stephen D. Sugarman
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
ISBN 13 : 0815721080
Total Pages : 389 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis School Choice and Social Controversy by : Stephen D. Sugarman

Download or read book School Choice and Social Controversy written by Stephen D. Sugarman and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this important new volume, distinguished legal and public policy scholars address issues that are critical to the successful drafting and implementation of school choice programs, yet are usually overlooked in the choice debate. They explore whether school choice is a threat or an opportunity to the many children who are largely deprived of choice today and they offer a variety of perspectives, with some authors enthusiastic, others more skeptical. The book begins with a discussion of the types and extent of school choice, what is known about its consequences, and how politics has influenced its development. It then focuses on three important public policy issues: how school choice can revolutionize the way schools are financed, what policy interventions are necessary to increase the supply of choice schools, and how choice programs can be held accountable to parents and the state without undermining institutional autonomy. The book addresses legal issues, including whether public and private choice schools will be required to observe student and teacher rights generally recognized in traditional public schools, how the religion and speech clauses of the First Amendment may affect the participation of religious schools in school choice programs, whether school choice will enhance or aggravate opportunities for racial justice, what the implications of school choice are for teacher unions and collective bargaining, and whether children with disabilities will be accommodated in school choice programs under federal disability law. Throughout the book, the authors offer recommendations for public policy development. The contributors are Jeffrey Henig, Robert Bulman and David L. Kirp, Paul T. Hill, Robert M. O'Neil, Jesse H. Choper, Betsy Levin, William G. Buss, and Laura F. Rothstein. Stephen D. Sugarman is Agnes Roddy Robb Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Frank R. Kemerer is Regents Professor and director of the Center for the Study of Education Reform at the University of North Texas.

The Future of Democracy

Author : Peter Levine
Publisher : Tufts University Press
ISBN 13 : 1611687888
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (116 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Future of Democracy by : Peter Levine

Download or read book The Future of Democracy written by Peter Levine and published by Tufts University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We need young people to be civically engaged in order to define and address public problems. Their participation is important for democracy, for institutions such as schools, and for young people themselves, who are more likely to succeed in life if they are engaged in their communities. In The Future of Democracy, Peter Levine, scholar and practitioner, sounds the alarm: in recent years, young Americans have become dangerously less engaged. They are tolerant, patriotic, and idealistic, and some have invented such novel and impressive forms of civic engagement, as blogs, "buycott" movements, and transnational youth networks. But most lack the skills and opportunities they need to participate in politics or address public problems. Levine's timely manifesto clearly explains the causes, symptoms, and repercussions of this damaging trend, and, most importantly, the means whereby America can confront and reverse it. Levine demonstrates how to change young people's civic attitudes, skills, and knowledge and, equally importantly, to reform our institutions so that civic engagement is rewarding and effective. We must both prepare citizens for politics and improve politics for citizens.

Making Good Citizens

Author : Diane Ravitch
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300129785
Total Pages : 366 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Making Good Citizens by : Diane Ravitch

Download or read book Making Good Citizens written by Diane Ravitch and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: divAmericans have reason to be concerned about the condition of American democracy at the start of the twenty-first century. Surveys show that civic participation has declined, cynicism about government has increased, and young people have a weak grasp of the principles that underlie our constitutional system. Crucial questions must be answered: How serious is the situation? What role do schools play in shaping civic behavior? Are current education reform initiatives—such as multiculturalism and school choice—counterproductive? How can schools contribute toward reversing the trend? This volume brings together leading thinkers from a variety of disciplines to probe the relation between a healthy democracy and education. Their original and provocative discussions cut across a range of important topics: the cultivation of democratic values, the formation of social capital in schools and communities, political conflict in a pluralist society, the place of religion in public life, the enduring problems of racial inequality. Gathering together the most current research and thinking on education and civil society, this is a book that deserves the attention of everyone who cares about the quality and future of American democracy./DIV

The Future of School Choice

Author : Paul E. Peterson
Publisher : Hoover Inst Press Publication
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 284 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Future of School Choice by : Paul E. Peterson

Download or read book The Future of School Choice written by Paul E. Peterson and published by Hoover Inst Press Publication. This book was released on 2003 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Future of School Choice, a group of distinguished authors examine the meaning of the recent Supreme Court decision and consider the new political and policy context it has created."--BOOK JACKET.

Why America Needs School Choice

Author : Jay P Greene
Publisher : Encounter Books
ISBN 13 : 1594035954
Total Pages : 55 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Why America Needs School Choice by : Jay P Greene

Download or read book Why America Needs School Choice written by Jay P Greene and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2011-07-19 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expanding school choice and competition is the single most important action we can take to improve America's schools. Although school choice faces strong opposition from powerful teacher unions and their entrenched political allies, expanding choice via vouchers, charters, and tax credits has repeatedly been shown to improve student achievement, reduce segregation, promote civic values, and facilitate other productive reforms. This eloquent Broadside outlines the case for school choice and shows how it is the most appealing strategy for anyone serious about educational reform.

Rediscovering the Democratic Purposes of Education

Author : Lorraine McDonnell
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Rediscovering the Democratic Purposes of Education by : Lorraine McDonnell

Download or read book Rediscovering the Democratic Purposes of Education written by Lorraine McDonnell and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do America's public schools seem unable to meet today's social challenges? As competing interest groups vie over issues like funding and curricula, we seem to have lost sight of the democratic purposes originally intended for public education. Public schools were envisioned by the Founders as democratically run institutions for instilling civic values, but today's education system seems more concerned with producing good employees than good citizens. Meanwhile, our country's diversity has eroded consensus about citizenship, and the professionalization of educators has diminished public involvement in schools. This volume seeks to demonstrate that the democratic purposes of education are not outmoded ideas but can continue to be driving forces in public education. Nine original articles by some of today's leading education theorists cut a broad swath across the political spectrum to examine how those democratic purposes might be redefined and revived. It both establishes the intellectual foundation for revitalizing American schools and offers concrete ideas for how the educational process can be made more democratic. The authors make a case for better empirical research about the politics of education in order to both reconnect schools to their communities and help educators instill citizenship. An initial series of articles reexamines the original premise of American education as articulated by important thinkers like Jefferson and Dewey. A second group identifies flaws in how schools are currently governed and offers models for change. A final section analyzes the value conflicts posed by the twin strands of democratic socialization and governance, and their implications for education policy. Spanning philosophy, history, sociology, and political science, this book brings together the best current thinking about the specifics of education policy—vouchers, charter schools, national testing—and about the role of deliberation in a democracy. It offers a cogent alternative to the exchange paradigm and shows how much more needs to be understood about an issue so vital to America's future.

Democracy, Deliberation, and Education

Author : Robert Asen
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271073144
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Democracy, Deliberation, and Education by : Robert Asen

Download or read book Democracy, Deliberation, and Education written by Robert Asen and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-08-13 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The local school board is one of America’s enduring venues of lay democracy at work. In Democracy, Deliberation, and Education, Robert Asen takes the pulse of this democratic exemplar through an in-depth study of three local school boards in Wisconsin. In so doing, Asen identifies the broader democratic ideal in the most parochial of American settings. Conducted over two years across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines, Asen’s research reveals as much about the possibilities and pitfalls of local democracy as it does about educational policy. From issues as old as racial integration and as contemporary as the recognition of the Gay-Straight Alliance in high schools, Democracy, Deliberation, and Education illustrates how ordinary folks build and sustain their vision for a community and its future through consequential public decision making. For all the research on school boards conducted in recent years, no other project so directly addresses school boards as deliberative policymaking bodies. Democracy, Deliberation, and Education draws from 250 school-board meetings and 31 interviews with board members and administrators to offer insight into participants’ varied understandings of their roles in the complex mechanism of governance.