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The Charter School Landscapereviewed by Carol Ascher - 2003 Title: The Charter School Landscape Author(s): Sandra Vergari (ed.) Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA ISBN: 0822941805 , Pages: 312, Year: 2002 Search for book at Amazon.com If university pressures tend to engender edited collections by
academic presses, charter school reform has spawned more than its
share of this form. An edited collection avoids the tusk being
mistaken for the whole elephant, and works against either a
celebratory or condemnatory tone dominating an entire book. Yet
collections are intellectually cautious enterprises; charter
schools are overdue the brave risks—and deep
insights—made possible only in a long monograph or book.
Though Sandra Vergari’s volume doesn’t transcend the
limitations of a collection, The Charter School Landscape
contains much interesting information, insights, and
analyses.
Twelve contributors report on charter reform in eleven states,
and one Canadian province, Alberta. Each describes the history and
context of charter legislation in his or her respective
jurisdiction, along with how the law has been amended and
implemented, often including information on finances and
facilities, student demography and performance. Though most of the
authors are mild to strong supporters of charter reform, their
stories are not always of idealism exerted by either charter school
advocates... (preview truncated at 150 words.)To view the full-text for this article you must be signed-in with the appropriate membership. Please review your options below:
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- Carol Ascher
New York University E-mail Author CAROL ASCHER is senior research scientist at the Institute for Education and Social Policy. For the past five years she has directed both national and local research on charter schools. Her studies on charter school reform in New York State have appeared in several reports: Going Charter: Lessons from Two First-Year Studies (2000); Going Charter: New Models of Support (2001); Going Charter, Year three, Findings from New York City’s Charter Schools (2002); and The Implementation of Performance-Based Accountability by New York’s Three Charter School Authorizers, Findings from Year Three (2002). She is co-author of Hard Lessons: Public Schools and Privatization (Century Press, 1996).
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