Gary Orfield and Erica Frankenberg
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780520274730
- eISBN:
- 9780520955103
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520274730.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
The first major battle over school choice was part of the struggle to equalize and integrate schools in the civil rights era, when it became apparent that choice could be either a serious barrier or ...
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The first major battle over school choice was part of the struggle to equalize and integrate schools in the civil rights era, when it became apparent that choice could be either a serious barrier or a significant tool for reaching these goals. The second movement for choice has been very different. This large—and continuing—movement is part of an anti—government, individualistic, market—based movement in a more conservative period. This period that has forgotten many of the lessons of that earlier time, although it has once again seen choice presented as the answer to racial inequality. This book brings civil rights back to the center of the debate and moves from doctrine to empirical research in exploring the many forms of choice and their widely differing consequences for equity in US schools. The contributors conclude that although helping minority children remains a central justification for choice proponents, compelling new research shows that ignoring the essential civil rights dimensions of systems for choice usually means compounding rather than remedying racial inequality.Less
The first major battle over school choice was part of the struggle to equalize and integrate schools in the civil rights era, when it became apparent that choice could be either a serious barrier or a significant tool for reaching these goals. The second movement for choice has been very different. This large—and continuing—movement is part of an anti—government, individualistic, market—based movement in a more conservative period. This period that has forgotten many of the lessons of that earlier time, although it has once again seen choice presented as the answer to racial inequality. This book brings civil rights back to the center of the debate and moves from doctrine to empirical research in exploring the many forms of choice and their widely differing consequences for equity in US schools. The contributors conclude that although helping minority children remains a central justification for choice proponents, compelling new research shows that ignoring the essential civil rights dimensions of systems for choice usually means compounding rather than remedying racial inequality.