Exposes decades of rampant fraud, waste, and abuse in America's largest public school districts, analyzes how the widespread corruption has crippled schools and impeded learning, and offers a bold blueprint for reform.

Over the past decade a rising chorus of critics - from William Bennett to Allan Bloom - has decried the supposedly dire state of our public schools. Kids aren't learning what they should, violence and chaos reign in the classroom, and bureaucracy strangles attempts at reform. But how much of that grim image is really true? In The Manufactured Crisis, two prominent scholars, prize-winning educational psychologist David C. Berliner and leading social psychologist Bruce J. Biddle, fight back with the good news. They debunk a whole series of familiar but untrue statistics about public schools - that SAT scores have been dropping, when for many groups they are in fact rising; that illiteracy is up, when in fact the numbers have been skewed because schools are now educating the traditionally disenfranchised in ever larger numbers; that investments in public education do not pay off when, in fact, they lead to greater student achievements and life earnings; that private schools are inherently better than public schools when, in fact, the evidence does not support this charge. Berliner and Biddle tear through these and other sensational myths to give the reader an honest look at public education in America and the misguided, often tragic proposals that critics have urged for correcting these fictive problems. In addition, they expose and offer solutions to the real problems American public schools face today, schools that continue to provide an increasingly diverse citizenry with the opportunity to better their lives.

This book provides undergraduate and graduate students in education with an overview of urban teaching. Organized around eight authentic questions, it offers pre-service and in-service teachers opportunities for critical reflection and problem-posing not often seen in comparable course texts. This text supports staff who are looking for increasingly creative approaches to exploring key educational issues with their students.

Battle-scarred political warrior David Horowitz says it’s time for conservatives to take the gloves off—and take our country back. America is at a crucial turning point in her history, and Republicans have been losing ground to Democrats for too long. In his new book Take No Prisoners, Horowitz sounds a clarion call for conservatives to use liberals’ political playbook against them in the fight for America's future. No longer can the GOP afford to let Democrats brazenly claim the moral high ground while the Democratic agenda bankrupts hardworking Americans. No longer can the Right respond to the Left's emotional attacks with appeals to reason. Year after year, liberals have won voters' hearts and minds by selling a fantasy of moral righteousness. Republicans need to learn from Democrats' successes in order to turn the tide, David Horowitz argues, and they need to do it now. From his days as a founder of the radical New Left movement in the 1960s to his storied career as a leading conservative activist, Horowitz has a lifetime of experience in battleground politics. Now he lays out a winning political strategy for the Right that can save the country from sliding into economic and social ruin. If conservatives want a better future for America, they need to be able to beat liberals at their own game—and David Horowitz is teaching them how.

"One of the most frequently voiced objections to school choice is that the free market lacks the"accountability" that governs public education. Public schools are constantly monitored by district administrators, state officials, federal officials, school board members, and throngs of other people tasked with making sure that the schools follow all the rules and regulations governing them. That level of bureaucratic oversight does not exist in the free market, and critics fear choice-based education will be plagued by corruption, poor-quality schools, and failure. Recently, news surfaced that appeared to justify critics' fears. Between the beginning of 2003 and the middle of 2004, Florida's Palm Beach Post broke a slew of stories identifying corruption in the state's three school choice programs. The number of stories alone seemed to confirm that a choice-based system of education is hopelessly prone to corruption. But when Florida's choice problems are compared with cases of fraud, waste, and abuse in public schools--schools supposedly inoculated against corruption by "public accountability"--Choice problems suddenly don't seem too bad. So which system is more likely to produce schools that are scandal free, efficient, and effective at educating American children? The answer is school choice, precisely because it lacks the bureaucratic mechanisms of public accountability omnipresent in public schools. In many districts bureaucracy is now so thick that the purveyors of corruption use it to hide the fraud they've perpetrated and to deflect blame if their misdeeds are discovered. However, for the principals, superintendents, and others purportedly in charge of schools, bureaucracy has made it nearly impossible to make failed systems work. Public accountability has not only failed to defend against corruption, it has also rendered many districts, especially those most in need of reform, impervious to change. In contrast to our moribund public system, school choice isn't encumbered by compliance-driven rules and regulations, which allows institutions to tailor their products to the needs of the children they teach and lets parents select the schools best suited to their child's needs. And accountability is built right in: schools that offer parents what they want at a price they are willing to pay will attract students and thrive, while those that don't will cease to exist"--Cato Institute web site

Are public charter schools more effective than traditional public schools? This book provides quantitative evidence to answer this question and considers a better way to undertake a policy of school choice. School Choice: A Balanced Approach is the most comprehensive examination of traditional public schools, public charter schools, and faith-based schools that has ever been undertaken. By considering and comparing the overall data on these three types of educational systems, it provides insight on likely outcomes of school choice programs. The author's objective is not to advance any particular agenda, but rather to provide readers with an unbiased analysis of research that has been embraced by both the G.W. Bush and Obama administrations that will allow for fresh thinking and the betterment of American education as a whole. Author William H. Jeynes, PhD, asks vital questions regarding the school choice issue that are often overlooked: Which specific programs of school choice are likely to work, and which would likely fail? Is school choice really a boon for the private sector? How might the implementation of school choice programs increase or decrease the financial burden on government budget deficits? This book carefully addresses a relevant topic that ultimately affects every American, making it essential reading for everyone from government officials and educators to students and the general public.

Journalist Joe Williams shows how parents can use consumer power to put children first, shining light on the special interests controlling our schools, where politics and pork infuse everything and our children's education is compromised. He argues that increased accountability and choice are necessary, and shows how the people can take back the education system, enhancing responsibility inherent in democracy. The solution is a new brand of hardball politics that demands competence from school leaders and shifts the power away from bureaucrats and union leaders to the people who have a the greatest reason to put kids first: concerned parents. With practical steps and uplifting examples of success, Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education is a manifesto to action.