Transforming Schools

Cookson, Peter W. Jr.; Schneider, Barbara

"This is an antidote to the cynicism and disillusionment with schools and other institutions in our society. Yes, we can transform the schools, but it will take knowledge and ideas-knowledge of schools as social organizations, embedded in complex cultural and political institutions, and ideas about what must be done to change them; this book has both." -- Ann Lieberman, Columbia University"This is an antidote to the cynicism and disillusionment with schools and other institutions in society. Yes, we can transform the schools, but it will take knowledge and ideas...this book has both." -- Anne Lieberman, Professor and Co-Director, National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST), Teachers College, Columbia University

• Contents Section I: Conditions for Educational Opportunities *Schooling, Achievement, and Mobility, Aaron M. Pallas *Tracking and Detracking Practices: Relevance for Learning, Maureen T. Hallinan *Parental Ties to the School and Community and Mathematics Achievement, Chandra Muller *Reading Reality More Carefully Than Books: A Structural Approach to Race and Class Differences in Adolescent Educational Performance, Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Sumie Okazaki, Dunchun Zheng *Dropouts: Definitions, Causes, Consequences and Remedies, Gary Natriello *Section II: Changing Definitions of Education *Mapping Knowledge Perspectives in Studies of Educational Change, Rolland G. Paulston *Expanding Definitions of Learning and Teaching: Notes from the MI Underground, Mindy Kornhaber and Mara Krechevsky *Thinking Like a Fish: The Implications of the Image of School Community for Connections Between Parents and Schools, Mary Erina Driscoll *Neighborhoods and Corporations: Community Influence on Education Reform, Kathryn Borman and Debra A. Martinson with Louis Castenell, Karen Gallagher and Sally Kilgore *Schools Must Do More For Children-Child Advocacy as an Educational Responsibility, Judith H. Cohen *Section III: Learning and Assessment *The Context of Cultural Inventions: Learning and Curriculum, Ivor F. Goodson *The Politics of a National Curriculum, Michael W. Apple *The Role of Standards and Assessments in a National Model of Reform, David Stevenson *High School Curriculum Differentiation and Postsecondary Outcomes, Thomas B. Hoffer Section IV: New Strategies for SolvingEducational Problems *Policy, Knowledge and Power: Some Issues for the Study of Educational Reform, Thomas S. Popkewitz *Can the Big-City School System be Governed, Kenneth K. Wong *Administrative Leadership and the Crisis in the Study of Educational Administration: Technical Rationality and Its Aftermath, James G. and Hanne B. Mawhinney with the assistance of Jerald Paquette *Privatization: Integrating Private Services in Public Schools, Ellen B. Goldring and Anna V. Shaw Sullivan *Why School Choice? A Question of Values, Peter Cookson and Barbara Schneider SpecialFeatures*wide coverage of important topics in education policy at both federal and local levels *sectionintroductions give succinct views of the significance ofeach essay