"The Education Debate dissects the essential issues that confront education policymakers and practitioners today. In an era when controversies over the schools' role have become hot-button political issues, disputation is the order of the day, and the book charts a research-driven course through these topics. It starts with the broadest themes about the purposes of education, then narrows the lens, moving from big ideas to classrooms and corridors. The stage is set with an overview of the prek-grade 12 system. Racial and socioeconomic integration, school finance reform and greater student choice-each has been promoted as the royal road to equal opportunity. Policy choices reflect these differences. Which strategy-- community schools, finance equalization, charter schools or vouchers-holds the greatest promise? The education system is intricate and complex. What the roles of the key players, from classroom teachers and administrators to billionaire philanthropists? Life inside the schools presents challenges to teachers and learners alike, never more so than during a time when students have become increasingly diverse. It's essential, in understanding the current climate, to understand how different groups-those with special needs, English language learners, Native American students and LGBT youth-experience the system. COVID has been a stress test for K-12 education, exposing and exacerbating inequities in the system. While the immediate threat of the pandemic has receded, its impact on every aspect of education will persist for decades. No issue stirs the passion more than the way America's youth are educated. From racial reckoning to transgender students, education is a headline-making topic. The Education Debate offers readers a solid starting-point in these pivotal issues"--
A compelling overview of the major debates in contemporary education policy.
In statehouses, school boards, and communities across the US, battles are raging over the direction of education policy--from the standards that are shaping what students learn to how test results are being used to judge a teacher's performance. These battles are being waged against a backdrop of shifting demographics, rapidly developing technology, a transforming economy and workplace. What's more, the COVID-19 pandemic is prompting educators to rethink the school's mission in society.
In The Education Debate: What Everyone Needs to Know®, nationally recognized education authority David Kirp and Kevin Macpherson provide a balanced, accessible overview of the key policy and practice issues in pre k-12 education today. They expose the fault lines of the major debates--what values should guide education and how can those values best be incorporated in policy and practice. They focus on equity and equality of opportunity as well as the tension between market and bureaucratic mechanisms as drivers of school improvement. Many of the topics they address, including racial integration, charter schools, student rights and teachers' unions, are hotly contested. In an area where partisanship reigns, Kirp and Macpherson take an approach guided by research and not driven by ideology. A primer for educational policymakers and administrators, parents, and undergraduate and graduate students in education courses, The Education Debate offers a solid grasp of the major debates in
contemporary education policy.
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