Creating Educational Destruction: A Critical Exploration of Central Neoliberal Concepts and Their Transformative Effects on Public Education

Individualism and competition are central neoliberal concepts that have profoundly altered the U.S. public education system. This article draws on poststructuralist theory and advances the argument that these concepts have produced problematic policies and deeply flawed school choice mechanisms such as charter schools and school vouchers. I also explore how educational activists contested neoliberal ideology and reshaped reality as they defeated a neoliberal education policy in North Carolina.     

美国特许学校的特点及对我国基础教育改革的启示

美国的特许学校是一种公办学校,由政府投资,不受传统的公立学校的很多规章制度的制约。以自由与责任兼顾的绩效责任制、灵活多样的课程设置、小班化的教学、自主性的教师聘用为特色。特许学校取得了很大的成效,促进了美国基础教育的公平。我们可以从我国的国情出发,借鉴美国特许学校的宝贵经验,来有效地改革我国的基础教育。     

高校教研室心理契约特征及组织构建

根据卢梭2×2心理契约模型,考虑到高校教研室在成员选择上专业目的明确,同时组织对成员的雇佣期限较长,可以认为高校教研室存在稳定型心理契约。根据利维特钻石模型,我们可以从组织目标、社会结构、参与者、技术及环境角度构建适合心理契约管理要求的组织架构。     

Mapping the terrain: Teach For America,charter school reform,and corporate sponsorship

In this paper we illustrate the relationships between Teach For America (TFA) and federal charter school reform to interrogate how policy decisions are shaped by networks of individuals, organizations, and private corporations. We use policy network analysis to create a visual representation of TFA’s key role in developing and connecting personnel, political support, and financial backing for charter reform. Next we examine how the networks unfold at a local level by zooming in on a case study of New Orleans. By mapping out these connections, we hope to provide a foundation for further investigation of how this network affects policies.     

The Impact of Blended Learning on Community of Inquiry and Perceived Learning among High School Learners Enrolled in a Public Charter School

Abstract

This study examined how blended learning impacts high school learners’ community of inquiry (CoI) and perceived learning in comparison to online instruction. Archival data collected from a public charter high school in the U.S. southeast was examined. The results demonstrate a statistically significant difference in social presence among students enrolled in blended learning courses as compared to online learning only. No statistically significant difference in perceived learning existed between groups. Findings are discussed in light of the community of inquiry framework and add to current understanding of the impacts of distance learning on K-12 student outcomes and the applicability of the CoI framework to K-12 learning environments.     

京津冀高等教育协同创新行与思

依据《京津冀协同发展规划纲要》等标识性政策文件,将京津冀都市圈建设划分出早期阶段和新型阶段,就逻辑构思、功能分区等方面进行政策分析。近几年天津市在前沿领域创建国家研究中心和创新平台,其扩展的数量规模在2-3年内超过以往10年发展的总和,然而其成绩和存在的问题同样是显著的。继而,在经济社会发展和高等教育协同创新两个方面与长三角等区域进行比较研究,反映出长三角区域和珠三角区域在自主创新的活跃度方面均略高于京津冀区域,由此提供了一定程度上发挥市场资源配置功能的范例。相关顶层决策上进行常态化设置,按年度召开京津冀首脑联席会议,就建设区域协同长效机制而言是一个行之有效的实现路径。     

Homeschooling,Virtual Learning,and the Eroding Public/Private Binary

ABSTRACT

Regulators ubiquitously dichotomize schooling into two discrete sectors: public and private. Although homeschooling is regulated in some contexts as a third sector, the general approach is to treat it as a species of private education by subjecting it to public regulation while simultaneously denying it public funds. But the public/private binary is increasingly difficult to sustain as charter schools multiply and, especially, as virtual schooling increasingly penetrates primary and secondary education. Public school systems are deploying virtual education in ways that erode once impermeable walls between public and private. Many obstacles to homeschooling will fall with those walls—particularly obstacles related to government financing of homeschooling activities.     

The Mass Termination of Black Veteran Teachers in New Orleans: Cultural Politics,the Education Market,and Its Consequences

Abstract

This article chronicles the mass firing of veteran teachers in New Orleans, most of them African American, following Hurricane Katrina. The role of Teach for -America in providing inexperienced White teacher recruits from outside the community is critiqued. Countering the ahistorical discourse that blames Black veteran teachers for the shortcomings of New Orleans public schools, the author reveals what is lost if the culture of the community is replaced by the culture of the market.     

Incentives for School Diversification

ABSTRACT

Reforms using market-style mechanisms of parental choice and competition between schools are intended to leverage change by compelling schools to diversify options and increase effectiveness. Yet, some research challenges those assumptions, suggesting that schools in competitive climates are more likely to focus on image management to attract a more desirable student intake than to engage in substantive innovations to improve student outcomes. This analysis examines school responses to competition in two local education markets representing a mix of public (including charter) and private school types. School promotional signals to consumers are studied in order to understand school perceptions and responses to underlying competitive incentive structures-incentives that reformers intended to encourage programmatic improvement and diversification of options along a horizontal axis of diverse consumer preferences. A review of marketing materials demonstrates that many schools are instead adopting marketing strategies designed to attract “better” students-often from schools considered to be successful, rather than from the failing schools reformers had targeted. These patterns of vertical differentiation suggest that schools may be acting in ways that reflect contradictory incentives shaping how schools engage the marketplace.     

Measuring the Efficiency of Teachers by Standardized Tests

ABSTRACT

There have been strong calls to action in recent years to promote both school choice and the learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This has led to the burgeoning development of STEM-focused schools. Nine STEM-focused charter and 2 STEM-focused magnet schools that serve elementary-aged students were examined to assess the achievement of students who transfer to these schools, as compared to students transferring to non-STEM schools, in the content areas of mathematics, language arts, and reading. The achievement of students transferring to STEM-focused elementary schools was also evaluated after 3 years at their new school and compared both to students’ own prior achievement at their old school and to achievement of students comprising comparison groups. Results generally indicated no effect of STEM-focused magnet schools, but did indicate some positive effects of STEM-focused charter schools.