Rethinking School Choice: Limits of the Market Metaphor

by Jeffrey R. Henig

Overview

Advocates of school vouchers and other choice proposals couch their arguments in the fashionable language of economic theory. Choice initiatives at all levels of government have succeeded, it is claimed, because they shift responsibility for education reform from government to market forces. This timely book disputes the appropriateness of the market metaphor as a guide to education policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691044729
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/13/1995
Edition description:	With a New afterword by the author
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jeffrey R. Henig is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies at George Washington University. His other books include Public Policy and Federalism: Issues in State and Local Politics.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Ch. 1	The Call for Choice and Radical Reform	3
Ch. 2	The Political Meaning of "Crisis"	26
Ch. 3	Application of the Market Model	57
Ch. 4	Repackaging Choice	78
Ch. 5	Evolving Practice: Problematic Lessons from History	101
Ch. 6	Uses of Evidence: The Empirical Case that "Choice Works"	117
Ch. 7	Reinterpreting the Lessons of Experience	149
Ch. 8	How Market-Based Plans Will Fail	174
Ch. 9	Putting Educational Choice in Its Place	196
Afterword	223
Notes	243
Index	291

What People are Saying About This

Witte

This book makes a forceful, tough-minded contribution to the raging debate over school choice. But it goes well beyond this debate, and refocuses the way we look at education.
— John F. Witte,University of Wisconsin-Madison

From the Publisher

"This book makes a forceful, tough-minded contribution to the raging debate over school choice. But it goes well beyond this debate, and refocuses the way we look at education."—John F. Witte,University of Wisconsin-Madison

Editorial Reviews

"For anyone interested in a full treatment of [choice], Henig's Rethinking School Choice is an absolute must. Exhaustive, comprehensive, and balanced, Henig's book sets the standard, for style as well as context, against which others will be measured."—-Gerald Bracey, The Washington Post

From the Publisher

This book makes a forceful, tough-minded contribution to the raging debate over school choice. But it goes well beyond this debate, and refocuses the way we look at education.

Choice and Control in American Education

For anyone interested in a full treatment of [choice], Henig's Rethinking School Choice is an absolute must. Exhaustive, comprehensive, and balanced, Henig's book sets the standard, for style as well as context, against which others will be measured.

The Washington Post - Gerald Bracey

This book makes a forceful, tough-minded contribution to the raging debate over school choice. But it goes well beyond this debate, and refocuses the way we look at education.

n F. Witte

For anyone interested in a full treatment of [choice], Henig's Rethinking School Choice is an absolute must. Exhaustive, comprehensive, and balanced, Henig's book sets the standard, for style as well as context, against which others will be measured.
— Gerald Bracey

The Washington Post