Examines rebirth of the school choice idea in the 1980s. Attributes interest in choice to renewed interest among conservatives and unprecedented changes in sentiment toward public education among liberal policy scholars, African-American parents, and state governors. Employs the state relative autonomy theory of political power and the garbage can…

Two systems of metaphors (laissez-faire and communitarian) have set the parameters governing the educational choice debate. Choice proponents argue that markets will make schools more efficient and egalitarian; critics view privatization as fragmenting the body politic. When institutional racism is factored in, privatization appears to further…

Some recent articles argue that the key to public education reform is exposure to market pressures. This article suggests that market forces shape the demand for, and the politics of, U.S. education. Market processes and pressures must bear substantial responsibility for the condition of U.S. schools and the problems afflicting them. (117…

Reliance on market structures can help educators meet Clune's program adequacy goals. Transfer barriers should be eliminated so that teachers can freely choose schools with institutional missions approximating their own visions. Compensation should be based more on teacher knowledge and performance than on experience and training. A market-based…

Schools' inability to develop effective marketing strategies has weakened their ability to counter the crisis of confidence embodied in failed bond initiatives, increased political interventions, parent revolts, and community disenchantment. This article identifies and analyzes the natural market forces that create bridges and/or barriers between…

This article argues that administrators normally do a serious wrong when they contract with companies that market to children within schools. This is because in doing so, they violate the anti-commercial principle, which, in turn, is justified by the obligation schools have to facilitate the autonomy of their students. The author focuses…

Whereas private institutions are chiefly accountable to the narrow, limited constituencies supporting them, public institutions are typically accountable to more general constituencies that are diverse, broad, and conflicted. This essay reviews two recent books by British authors that discuss the two "ideal" accountability models and…

In 1993-94, Ohio implemented an interdistrict open-enrollment policy, allowing student transfers only to adjacent districts. Districts can be open or closed, but cannot prevent transfers. A 1994 survey found that open districts were small, rural, racially homogeneous districts with declining enrollment. Closed districts were suburban, with…

Decentralization is usually accompanied by central state organizations' renewed efforts to control schools through managerialist policies and accountability processes. In New Zealand, such mechanisms have been adapted from "agency theory." This article examines the central tenets of agency theory, the New Zealand approach, and…

Evidence from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 suggests that teacher ratings are influenced by student characteristics such as race and ethnicity, family background, gender, and school sector. This article examines why the influence of race and ethnicity seems most pronounced in public schools, compared with Catholic and…