Shaping Education Policy: Power and Process

Shaping Education Policy is a comprehensive overview of education politics and policy during the most turbulent and rapidly changing period in American history. Respected scholars review the history of education policy to explain the political powers and processes that shape education today. Chapters cover major themes that have influenced education, including the civil rights movement, federal involvement, the accountability movement, family choice, and development of nationalization and globalization. Sponsored by the Politics of Education Association, this edited collection examines the tumultuous shifts in education policy over the last six decades and projects the likely future of public education. This book is a necessary resource for understanding the evolution, current status, and possibilities of educational policy and politics.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Shaping Policy: Historical and Theoretical Context 1. The Surprising History of Education Policy 1950 to 2010, Douglas E. Mitchell 2. An Enduring Issue: The Relationship between Political Democracy and Educational Effectiveness, Betty Malen Part II: Fundamental Issues: Structure, Governance and Market Forces 3. The Influence of Practice on Policy, David K. Cohen and Susan L. Moffitt 4. Education Politics and Policy in an Era of Evidence, Jane Hannaway and Joel Mittleman 5. The Market for Schooling, Douglas N. Harris and John F. Witte Part III: The Foundations of Educational Equity 6. Civil Rights for Individuals and Groups, Tedi K. Mitchell and Douglas E. Mitchell 7. Education Equity Policy since 1950: From Rights to Accountability, Carolyn A. Brown and Bruce S. Cooper Part IV: Globalization: Its Power and Limitations 8. Curriculum Politics and Educational Productivity, David N. Plank and Bob L. Johnson, Jr. 9. Path Dependence in German and American Public Education—The Persistence of Institutional Difference in a Globalizing World, Heinz-Dieter Meyer Part V: Major Efforts to Improve School Performance 10. Governance in Urban School Systems: Redrawing Institutional Boundaries, Kenneth K. Wong and Emily Farris 11. Education as Civic Good: Children’s Services Perspectives, Robert L. Crowson, Claire E. Smrekar, and Jo Bennett Part VI: Looking to the Future of Public Schooling 12. The Politics of Educational Reform: Idea Champions and Policy Windows, Dorothy Shipps 13. What Have We Learned about Shaping Education Policy? Douglas E. Mitchell, Dorothy Shipps, and Robert L. Crowson

About the Author :
Douglas E. Mitchell is Professor of Education at the University of California, Riverside. Robert L. Crowson is Professor of Education and Policy at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Dorothy Shipps is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Education at Baruch College, City University of New York.

Review :
"Why has a once-dynamic educational system turned stagnant, or worse? Have school systems become overly centralized, professionalized, legalized and bureaucratized? Did the school reforms of the past half century have consequences their advocates never anticipated? Answers to such questions and more are explored in this superb collection of essays." -- From the Foreword by Paul Peterson, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance, Harvard University "With precision and clarity, the authors explain how the myth of apolitical public education exploded and how local control of schools was replaced by contentious politics and disjointed reform. Every would-be educational reformer should study this book for its historical illumination and as an antidote to hubris. Incomplete change and unintended consequences are universal lessons of political interventions over the last six decades. aThis book tells that story well." a --Charles Taylor Kerchner, Research Professor, School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University