Educational delusions?: why choice can deepen inequality and how to make schools fair

The first major battle over school choice came out of struggles over equalizing and integrating 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 large and continuing movement for choice was part of the very different anti-government, individualistic, market-based movement of a more conservative period in which many of the lessons of that earlier period were forgotten, though choice was once again presented as the answer to racial inequality. This book brings civil rights back into the center of the debate and tries to move from doctrine to empirical research in exploring the many forms of choice and their very different consequences for equity in U.S. schools. Leading researchers conclude that although helping minority children remains a central justification for choice proponents, ignoring the essential civil rights dimensions of choice plans risks compounding rather than remedying racial inequality.

Frontmatter --; Contents --; List of Illustrations --; List of Illustrations --; Acknowledgments --; Part One. Introduction --; 1. Choice and Civil Rights: Forgetting History, Facing Consequences /; 2. Choice Theories and the Schools /; Part Two. School Districts' Use of Choice to Further Diversity --; 3. The Promise of Choice: Berkeley's Innovative Integration Plan /; 4. Valuing Diversity and Hoping for the Best: Choice in Metro Tampa /; 5. Designing Choice: Magnet School Structures and Racial Diversity /; Part Three. Charter Schools and Stratification --; 6. A Segregating Choice? An Overview of Charter School Policy, Enrollment Trends, and Segregation /; 7. Failed Promises: Assessing Charter Schools in the Twin Cities /; 8. The State of Public Schools in Post-Katrina New Orleans: The Challenge of Creating Equal Opportunity /; Part Four. Lessons about Conditions under Which Choice Furthers Integration --; 9. The Story of Meaningful School Choice: Lessons from Interdistrict Transfer Plans /; 10. School Information, Parental Decisions, and the Digital Divide: The SmartChoices Project in Hartford, Connecticut /; 11. Experiencing Integration in Louisville: Attitudes on Choice and Diversity in a Changing Legal Environment /; Conclusion: A Theory of Choice with Equity /; References --; Contributors --; Index / Orfield, Gary --; Orfield, Gary --; Frankenberg, Erica --; Shircliffe, Barbara / Morley, Jennifer --; Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve / Frankenberg, Erica --; Frankenberg, Erica / Siegel-Hawley, Genevieve --; Orfield, Myron / Gumus-Dawes, Baris / Luce, Thomas --; Gumus-Dawes, Baris / Luce, Thomas / Orfield, Myron --; Stuart Wells, Amy / Warner, Miya / Grzesikowski, Courtney --; Dougherty, Jack / Zannoni, Diane / Chowhan, Maham / Coyne, Courteney / Dawson, Benjamin / Guruge, Tehani / Nukic, Begaeta --; Orfield, Gary / Frankenberg, Erica --; Orfield, Gary / Frankenberg, Erica --