Charter Schools: Another Flawed Educational Reform?

By Seymour B. Sarason

Book Overview

This is a book that anyone interested in or responsible for educational reform, including parents, will have to read

The rationale for charter schools is implicitly the most radical critique ever of our school systems. Yet Professor Sarason reluctantly concludes that most charter schools will fail or fall far short of their goals; only a small number will be considered successful. He argues on both theoretical and empirical grounds that it will be impossible to know why a charter school fails or succeeds. The reasons are several, including

national, state, and local politicians and policy makers who support self-defeating legislation resistance from vested interests in the educational status quo, and a total ignorance of what creating a new setting inevitably confronts.

The potential significance of charter schools is great. If future charter schools are to exploit this potential, their supporters and creators should be required to read this book. Professor Sarason has again written a seminal and timely book on an educational reform of increasing public interest and significance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807737844
• ISBN13: 9780807737842
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Teachers College Press
• Length: 115 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Charter Schools

Don't be fooled by the title. Seymour Bernard Sarason discusses charter schools as an important educational reform movement without the positive or negative rhetoric that often surrounds the topic. This is my favorite reference book about charter schools. I frequently suggest it as required reading for charter school developers and school district authorizers, and for parents exploring charter schooling for their children. Sarason spells out his predictable problems for the prehistory and first three years of a charter school as a new setting. One of his premises is that stakeholders are better prepared to work through challenges associated with starting a charter by being aware of the internal and societal forces at work in a new setting. Sarason urges charter developers to contemporaneously document their strategies, successes, and failures for the benefit of all students and teachers in charter schools as well as traditional public schools.