When School Policies Backfire
How Well-Intended Measures Can Harm Our Most Vulnerable Students
Will be published approx. on 30. March 2016
Book
Hardback
232 pages
978-1-61250-908-2 (ISBN)
Description
Like medical practitioners, educators share the moral obligation to "first, do no harm." But as this provocative volume shows, education policies do not always live up to this ideal, especially policies intended to help our most vulnerable students. When School Policies Backfire draws our attention to education policies designed to help disadvantaged students that instead had the perverse effect of harming them by exacerbating the very problems they were intended to solve.
The rigorous case studies that make up the book are contributed by a diverse group of scholars with different methodological approaches. The cases address important areas of education reform, from literacy and technology programs to school closings, school choice, and accountability policies. Each case shows how and why a particular program backfired. Taken together, they present a wide-ranging critique of the kinds of policies that compose the cornerstones of current education reform efforts.
Many books have examined policies that fall short of achieving their goals, or that result in unintended consequences. But few have documented the effects of policies whose failures have been so spectacular. When School Policies Backfire is a sobering reminder of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most vulnerable students.
The rigorous case studies that make up the book are contributed by a diverse group of scholars with different methodological approaches. The cases address important areas of education reform, from literacy and technology programs to school closings, school choice, and accountability policies. Each case shows how and why a particular program backfired. Taken together, they present a wide-ranging critique of the kinds of policies that compose the cornerstones of current education reform efforts.
Many books have examined policies that fall short of achieving their goals, or that result in unintended consequences. But few have documented the effects of policies whose failures have been so spectacular. When School Policies Backfire is a sobering reminder of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most vulnerable students.
Reviews / Votes
"When School Policies Backfire is a sobering reminder of the responsibility that policy makers and researchers bear for the well-being of our most vulnerable students." -James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief, Midwest Book Review "When School Policies Backfire provides, in a readable context, the need to analyze past policies and practices to understand that the best ideas do not always succeed nor do they help whom they are intended to help. The message of the book is simple and yet is so very important." -Rosalind Raby, Teachers College RecordMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
440 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61250-908-2 (9781612509082)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Michael A. Gottfried is an associate professor in the Gevirtz School's Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA and is on the editorial board of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
Gilberto Q. Conchas is a professor of educational policy and social context at the University of California, Irvine, USA and is the interim chair of the department of chican@ studies, acting associate dean of social sciences, and visiting professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.
Gilberto Q. Conchas is a professor of educational policy and social context at the University of California, Irvine, USA and is the interim chair of the department of chican@ studies, acting associate dean of social sciences, and visiting professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA.