School
Choice and Diversity: What the Evidence Says.
Janelle
T. Scott, ed. New York: Teachers College Press, 2005. Pp. 192. $40.00, hardcover.
ISBN: 0-8077-4599-5. TEL: 800-575-6566
Scott
says in the introduction to this collection: “Despite ideological stances
that define choice in specific, and often narrow, policies, school choice
is actually an umbrella term referring to a range of policy options that have
had unique histories and have served multiple purposes.
“In recent years, school choice options have grown to include tuition
tax credits, charter schools, vouchers, magnet schools, inter- and intradistrict
choice plans, alternative schools, home schooling, online and “virtual”
schools, and the private management of public schools.
“Choice programs are not just distinct from one plan to another; within
any given choice reform are differences in design and implementation. Thus,
while some school choice plans have the potential to diversify schools, others
can further segregate students within and across schools.”
“… [M]arket-based adherents regard school choice as something
of a ‘battering ram’ that will break down the ‘government
monopoly’ over schooling, while defenders of traditional public education
forms liken school choice to a ‘Trojan horse,’ surreptitiously
bent on destroying public schools.
“Yet, because the ideal of diversity and equity hold moral currency,
many choice advocates and detractors will emphasize the positive and negative
effects choice has on diversity, even if diversity is far from the primary
concern.”
This collection of essays will help readers disentangle the complex relationship
between school choice and student diversity in the post-Brown era. Presenting
the views of the most prominent researchers of school choice reforms in the
United States, this book argues that the contexts under which school choice
plans are adopted are actually responsible for shaping student diversity within
schools.
Using sociological, economic, and political analysis, the authors present
studies of controlled and voluntary choice plans, charter schools, and private
school selection, and their interaction with race, social class, gender, and
student disability.
