Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education. [Hardcover]

Bruno V. Manno (Author), Chester E., Jr. Finn (Author), Gregg Vanourek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2000

Can charter schools save public education? This text addresses pupil performance, enrollment patterns, school start-up problems, charges of inequity and political battles. It examines five real charter schools and two school districts that have been affected by the charter movement.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Few have studied the issue of charter schools for as long or as closely as Chester E. Finn Jr., Bruno V. Manno, and Gregg Vanourek. The product of several years of analysis and detailed case studies, Charter Schools in Action is a comprehensive look at the various laws, policies, and personalities that make up this fledgling reform effort. Parents, teachers, policymakers, and especially potential charter school owners will find the information invaluable. In fact, Finn, Manno--both former U.S. secretaries of education--and Vanourek have so thoroughly documented their research that the book threatens at times to bury the reader beneath a mass of facts, figures, and graphs. Still, this is no dry tome. Interviews with superintendents and school owners are combined with detailed features of schools, students, and parents, many of which paint a rosy portrait of the program. There is no mistaking the enthusiasm and passion these men share for charter schools--they contend that they are one of the last hopes for renewing public education, and they want them to succeed. They do their best to dispel negative notions of the program, such as the complaint that they tend to underserve disabled children and that they rob funds from traditional public schools. And when they do point out problems, they also offer prescriptions for healthy change, arguing, for example, for better accountability and a built-in system of checks and balances. Charter Schools in Action is simply a must for anyone who seeks a solid understanding of the subject. --Jodi Mailander Farrell

From Booklist

Finn and his coauthors have held education policy positions during Republican administrations and at think tanks of a conservative stripe, so it's no surprise they see enormous potential in charter schools. Still, even readers leery of this high-visibility educational reform movement can learn much from their study, which blends theory, analysis, polling, case studies, and assessment. Defining "charter schools" as "independent public schools of choice, freed from rules but accountable for results," they distinguish these schools from the true privatization that vouchers represent. The authors describe specific schools, examine charter schools' achievements, and consider "the accountability puzzle." They identify and respond to 10 major criticisms before addressing the political context in which charter schools develop and the results these schools are producing--in and out of the classroom and within their sponsoring systems. The authors believe charter schools can, with proper monitoring and support, overcome urban school systems' tendency toward bureaucracy and command-and-control regulation. In place of rigid controls, the authors would let the market (and transparency) rule. Mary Carroll

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (February 14, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691004803
• ISBN-13: 978-0691004808
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,882,792 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charter Schools in Action Gets An A, March 12, 2000

By 

David from Washington (Washington D.C.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education. (Hardcover)

Charter Schools in Action is a timely and thoughtful work that makes an important contribution to America's education debate.

Finn, Manno and Vanourek provide a well-researched study of the operation and promise of the charter school phenomenon. By mixing interviews conducted at dozens of charter schools throughout the country along with their empirical data, they provide real-life anecdotes that give the reader a better understanding of the ways in which charter schools compare to and differ from other educational institutions than do most studies I have read. The inclusion of these profiles makes this book accessible to parents as well as to academic readers.

The timing of this book could not be better. As Congress works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year and as the likely presidential nominees of both major political parties debate whether and how to reform our nation's high schools, it is vital that policy makers understand the strengths and weaknesses of charter schools. Charter Schools in Action provides the reader with information about what charter schools have done well and where they need to improve to help policy makers come to their own conclusions about how this 90's development should fit into our education debate for the new decade. Before anyone jumps to conclude that charter schools are a cure-all or rushes to condemn charter schools as harmful to or incompatible with traditional public education, they should read Charter Schools in Action. And when they do they will come to recognize that the education debate that will occur this year and in the future should be first and foremost about doing what will best prepare America's children, whatever their backgrounds, to compete and achieve in the 21st Century.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT reading, for both newbies and old pros!, May 15, 2001

By 

Gowie "gowie" (CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education. (Hardcover)

As a strong believer in charter schools, and even more as a parent of a kindergartner who attends a back to basics charter school currently in its fifth year of operation, I chose this book to learn more about this nationwide phenomenon.

This is a book that I would recommend to anyone looking for the most basic information, for anyone interested in starting a charter, or for those who would just like more background.

The authors began gathering their information for a research project, and three and a half years later, ended up with this book. It is packed full of details in an easy to follow and informative manner. Following a brief introduction, subsequent chapters are logically arranged. If reading the whole book is not for you, you can easily find what you are looking for. It also contains about 2 dozen tables and short surveys, if you enjoy this sort of thing.

A number of things I particularly liked: 1) the 5 "field trips" where the authors visited 5 different charter schools--small/large, urban/suburban, progressive/traditional, profit/non-profit, and even a "virtual" (online) school; 2) the way the book is written, not so much in a textbook manner (which would have been boring); 3) the detailed comparisons between different state laws, which can make or break the charter schools.

I do have the impression that the authors are pro-charter, although they listed plenty of negatives and accurately presented both sides of all issues. However, I may be reading into it my own favoritisms.

Overall, a good, strong book that I'm glad I picked up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish they'd release an updated version!, January 16, 2010

By 

H. Lyon "Lover of all great nonfiction books" (Idaho, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education. (Paperback)

I did an in-depth research paper on charter schools for my college English class last semester, and I just happened to pick this book up from the library. I cannot believe how much it helped me. I usually try to stick with more recent books because I figure that since there are so many books on the subject of charter schools, I need to read the most recent ones because they're probably going to be the most applicable to the situation today. However, I'm glad that I broke that rule and read this book from 2001. I will say that the statistics on charter schools were of course completely wrong, and there is nothing in there about the Race to the Top initiative or anything else that has recently been put in place.

Despite that major drawback, this was an excellent book to read because it gave such a good foundation (for me at least) of how the charter school movement got started, where it went, and where the authors hoped to see it go in the future. It was rather depressing to read what they hoped would be in place by 2010 - we're nowhere even close, although we are closer than we were in 2001, of course.

Just as a side note: When I was doing the research for this paper, I would take small post-it notes and mark pages with interesting passages that I could quote in my paper or items that I wanted to research further. When I finished this book, I had 87 post-it notes lining the edge of the book. I think that says it all.

My only complaint is the date. Would the authors consider doing a new and updated version? I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I think this book is the gold standard in charter school books. If you want to read a book to give you great background information on the subject, make this one it!