![]() Children as Pawns: The Politics of Educational Reformreviewed by Sandra Vergari - 2003 ![]() Author(s): Timothy A. Hacsi Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge ISBN: 0674007441 , Pages: 261, Year: 2002 Search for book at Amazon.com Despite its provocative title, this book focuses largely on
reviewing research rather than on political dynamics. The
book would have been more useful for readers with an interest in
education politics and policy if its analytical focus had been on
how politics have shaped education policy, as suggested by the
book’s title. Policymakers are discussed only
occasionally, and Hacsi does not frame his discussion with findings
and insights from the research literatures on public policy, the
politics of education, or the politics of research. Four of
the five policy chapters emphasize mass media reports, yet Hacsi
does not discuss how and why mass media coverage matters for
education policy. The book discusses evaluation research on five controversial
education issues: Head Start, bilingual education, class
size, social promotion, and school finance. For each of the
five issues, Hacsi provides helpful background information and
discussion of policy change over time. At the outset of each
chapter, Hacsi presents two quotes that express opposing viewpoints
on the education issue addressed in the chapter. These quotes
provide effective illustrations of one of Hacsi’s key
themes: that advocates and opponents of a policy inevitably
claim that the research evidence is on their side. While neglecting politics, the introductory chapter includes
useful discussion of the history of evaluation and evaluation
methods. Oddly, Hacsi casually dismisses qualitative
evaluations. While noting that many of the evaluation
questions that he finds “most interesting require a
qualitative approach ... [Q]ualitative evaluations, for all the
important things they can tell various stakeholders, generally do
not provide the kind of information that school districts, states,
and the federal government should use when making decisions”
(p. 17). Qualitative education research has deservedly been
the subject of a fair amount of criticism. However, just as
there are numerous flawed qualitative studies in the annals of
education research, so too, are there poor and shallow attempts at
quantitative research. In the concluding chapter, Hacsi briefly
revisits the issue of qualitative versus quantitative
methodologies. What is missing is a straightforward,
comparative analysis of the major strengths and weaknesses of
qualitative and quantitative evaluations. Hacsi does not
consider the complementary features of the two approaches and the
value of using both approaches to address a research question.
In Chapter One, on Head Start, Hacsi discusses the political
implications of Head Start being a program that serves the
poor. He emphasizes that it is difficult to assess this
longstanding federal program because stakeholders disagree on
indicators of success or failure. In Chapter Two, Hacsi aptly
conveys the political and technical complexity of bilingual
education policy. A strength of this chapter is his
discussion of the federal role and local control
issues. In Chapter Three, on class size reduction (CSR), Hacsi explains
that such policy is expensive and potentially difficult to
implement. Several sections of this chapter would have been
more convincing if Hacsi had provided supporting evidence for
various assertions. For instance, he asserts that, in
California, there was “pressure from parents statewide”
for CSR, but does not cite polling data or other evidence of such
pressure (p. 128). He notes that CSR “helped to drive
Governor Wilson’s approval ratings to their highest
point” in 1997, but does not offer evidence of a causal
relationship (p. 131). He avows that “parents,
teachers, administrators, and politicians…agreed that the
[California] program was a success, and newspapers were full of
statements to that effect.” Yet the only support Hacsi
offers for this broad assertion is a quote from a first grade
teacher in the L. A. Times who was “thrilled with the
results” of having smaller classes (p. 132).
In Chapter Four, Hacsi discusses social promotion research and
concludes that retention hurts students and makes dropouts more
likely. Hacsi notes that this is a case where “popular,
seemingly commonsense arguments can overwhelm research
evidence.” As in Chapter Three, Hacsi does not provide
evidence to back up several of his own assertions. For
instance, he states that social promotion prevents
“classrooms where ten-year-olds and thirteen-year-olds sit
side be side – a situation that teachers, parents, and
children themselves all prefer to avoid” (p. 145). Yet
he does not offer any evidence that all members of all of these
groups are opposed to multi-age classrooms. Similarly, he
does not offer evidence for a “surge of public concern”
about social promotion in the mid-1990s (p. 157). In Chapter Five, on school finance, Hacsi focuses heavily on New
Jersey and devotes a paragraph to Ohio, but does not explain the
relative significance of these states in terms of politics or
research. He includes three sentences on Michigan’s
historic 1994 school finance reform and ignores the rich politics
at the heart of this case. In contrast to the previous four
chapters, mention of mass media reports is conspicuously absent
from this chapter. The chapter focuses on the judiciary but
does not discuss how courts have or have not used research
evidence, nor does Hacsi examine the politics of legislative
responses to court actions. Hacsi states that money is a
“necessary component of any true education reform, especially
when it comes to our most troubled schools” (p. 203).
The definition of a “true education reform” and a
convincing case as to why money is necessarily the answer are not
provided. Missing from this chapter are discussions of the
politics of taxation and redistribution, and of accountability for
school spending. Hacsi’s discussion of the debate
between school finance researchers Eric Hanushek and Rob Greenwald,
Larry Hedges, and Richard Laine is one of the more
thought-provoking sections of the book. In the conclusion chapter, Hacsi offers the following observations on the five issues:
Hacsi concludes with several additional observations:
While this timely book does not discuss the circumstances or
details of how policymakers have treated “children as
pawns,” it should be useful for readers with an interest in
one or more of the five policy areas that Hacsi addresses.
The book highlights many of the key points of debate and informs
readers about major research projects in each area.
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