Praise for Liberating Learning "Moe and Chubb have delivered a truly stunning book, rich with the prospect of how technology is already revolutionizing learning in communities from Midland, Pennsylvania to Gurgaon, India. At the same time, this is a sobering telling of the realpolitik of education, a battle in which the status quo is well defended. But most of all, this book is a call to action, a call to unleash the power of technological innovation to create an education system worthy of our aspirations and our childrens' dreams." Ted Mitchell, CEO of the New Schools Venture Fund "As long as we continue to educate students without regard for the way the real world works, we will continue to limit their choices. In Liberating Learning, Terry Moe and John Chubb push us to ask the questions we should be asking, to have the hard conversations about how far technology can go to advance student achievement in this country." Michelle Rhee, Chancellor of Education for the Washington, D.C. schools "A brilliant analysis of how technology is destined to transform America's schools for the better: not simply by generating new ways of learning, but also and surprisingly by unleashing forces that weaken its political opponents and open up the political process to educational change. A provocative, entirely novel vision of the future of American education." Rick Hanushek, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University "Terry Moe and John Chubb, two long-time, astute observers of educational reform, see technology as the way to reverse decades of failed efforts. Technology will facilitate significantly more individualized student learning and perhaps most importantly, technology will make it harder and harder for the entrenched adult interests to block the reforms that are right for our kids. This is a provocative, informative and, ultimately, optimistic read, something we badly need in public education." Joel Klein, Chancellor of the New York City schools

With a direct, urgent, and passionate tone, Visionary Schools was written as an educational manual to encourage school transformation. It challenges college teacher education programs and teacher trainees to be daring and liberate students from race and class, colonial capitalism, militarism, and climate catastrophe. Solving these issues can transform a nation from colonial rule to governance by the African and Latino working class, the descendants of those enslaved who produced the original capital for the American economy.

For the past decade Americans have been intensely concerned with the quality of American education, which is hardly surprising given the importance of education to society and the growing evidence of problems in American education. Nowhere are those problems more severe than in our inner cities, where learning has all but ceased in many schools. It was concern about inner-city children that led the Cato Institute to convene a conference, "Education and the Inner City," in Washington in October 1989. Most of the chapters in this volume were originally presented at that conference. As concern about the quality of American education begins to lead Mericans toward major structural reforms, the Cato Institute is pleased to present these essays. We believe they make a major contribution to the national debate on education reform.

Few problems in education are as pressing as the severe crisis in urban schools. Though educators have tried a wide range of remedies, dismal results persist. This is especially true for low-income youth of color, who drop out of school—and into incarceration—at extremely high rates. The dual calamity of underachievement in schools and violence in many communities across the country is often met with blame and cynicism, and with a host of hurtful and unproductive quick fixes: blaming educators, pitting schools against each other, turning solely to the private sector, and ratcheting up the pressure on teachers and students. But real change will not be possible until we shift our focus from finding fault to developing partnerships, from documenting problems to discovering solutions. Learning to Liberate does just that by presenting true and compelling community-based approaches to school reform. Drawing on over three years of ethnographic research, Vajra Watson explores the complicated process of reaching and teaching today's students. She reveals how four nontraditional educators successfully empower young people who have repeatedly been left behind. Using portraiture, a methodology rooted in vivid storytelling, Watson analyzes each educator's specific teaching tactics. Uncovering four distinct pedagogies—of communication, community, compassion, and commitment—she then pulls together their key strategies to create a theoretically grounded framework that is both useful and effective. A poignant, insightful, and practical analysis, Learning to Liberate is a timely resource for all educators and youth-serving practitioners who are committed to transforming "at-risk" youth into "at-promise" individuals who put their agency and potential into action in their schools and neighborhoods.

This book is about three complementary ideas: 1) learning is a practice of freedom; 2) liberating learning in public education requires widespread cultural change in classrooms, schools, and entire education systems; and 3) social movements have been the most powerful vehicles for widespread cultural change, and in their logic of operation lie the keys to liberate learning. Drawing on existing knowledge and new research on educational change, the author offers nine principles of action to liberate learning in schools and across entire educational systems. Topics discussed include learning, pedagogy, leadership, education policy, widespread cultural change, collective action, and whole system improvement. Written for educators and leaders interested in transforming teaching and learning in classrooms and schools, as well as for public intellectuals and people interested in widespread pedagogical change, the book articulates a new way to think about and pursue educational change.

In Separating School & State, Sheldon Richman effectively and comprehensively analyzes the failures of public schooling in America and explains the ideas and ideology behind the case for compulsory education. But beyond a historical interpretation and a critical evaluation of the state of public education in America today, Mr. Richman offers a vision of what a fully privatized educational system might look like — and in what ways it would solve many, if not most, of the problems that parents, students, and even a sizable number of professional educators see as the fundamental shortcomings of the present system. This book moves the debate over education in America to a higher and more fruitful level of discussion.

For the past decade Americans have been intensely concerned with the quality of American education, which is hardly surprising given the importance of education to society and the growing evidence of problems in American education. Nowhere are those problems more severe than in our inner cities, where learning has all but ceased in many schools. It was concern about inner-city children that led the Cato Institute to convene a conference, "Education and the Inner City," in Washington in October 1989. Most of the chapters in this volume were originally presented at that conference. As concern about the quality of American education begins to lead Mericans toward major structural reforms, the Cato Institute is pleased to present these essays. We believe they make a major contribution to the national debate on education reform.