SRN Just the Facts: Summer Reading

Published August 1, 2000

School Reform News‘ contributing editors and friends helped compile this list of recommended books for summer reading.


Top Pick

Joseph P. Viteritti, Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (1999).

School Choice (Pro)

Clint Bolick, Transformation: The Promise and Politics of Empowerment, Institute for Contemporary Studies Press, Oakland, CA; 200 pages (1999).

Alan Bonsteel and Carlos A. Bonilla, A Choice for Our Children, Institute for Contemporary Studies, San Francisco, CA (1997).

John E. Coons and Stephen D. Sugarman, Scholarships for Children, University of California Institute of Governmental Studies Press, Berkeley, CA (1992).

Andrew J. Coulson, Market Education: The Unknown History, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ; 470 pages, $54.95 cloth, $24.95 paper (1999).

Mikel Holt, Not Yet ‘Free At Last’, Institute for Contemporary Studies, Oakland, CA; 200 pages, $19.95 paper (1999)

David W. Kirkpatrick, Choice in Schooling: The Case for Tuition Vouchers, Loyola University Press, Chicago, IL; 222 pages (1990).

David Kirkpatrick, School Choice: The Idea That Will Not Die, Blue Bird Publishing, Mesa, AZ (1997).

G. Dirk Mateer and Robert N. Mateer, Education and Freedom, CEBA, Lynchburg, VA (1993).

Daniel McGroarty, Break These Chains, Prima Publishing, Rocklin, CA (1996).

John Merrifield, The School Choice Wars (forthcoming).

Paul E. Peterson and Bryan C. Hassel (editors), Learning From School Choice, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; 442 pages (1998).

James Skillen (editor), The School-Choice Controversy, The Center for Public Justice, Washington, DC (1993).

Ron Taber, The Case for School Choice, Tribune Press, Olympia, WA (1995).

School Choice (Anti)

Edward B. Fiske and Helen F. Ladd, When Schools Compete: A Cautionary Tale Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (2000).

Bruce Fuller and Richard F. Elmore, Who Chooses? Who Loses? Culture, Institutions, and the Unequal Effects of School Choice, Teachers College Press, New York, NY; 213 pages (1994).

Jeffrey R. Henig, Rethinking School Choice: Limits of the Market Metaphor, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (1994).

Understanding Public Schools

Dale Ballou and Michael Podgursky, Teacher Pay and Teacher Quality, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Kalamazoo, MI; 185 pages (1997).

David Kearns and James Harvey, A Legacy of Learning, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (2000).

Myron Lieberman, Public Education: An Autopsy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (1993).

Myron Lieberman, The Teacher Unions: How the NEA and the AFT Sabotage Reform and Hold Students, Parents, Teachers, and Taxpayers Hostage to Bureaucracy, The Free Press, New York, NY; 305 pages (1997).

Myron Lieberman, Understanding the Teacher Union Contract: A Citizen’s Handbook, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ; $29.95 cloth, $19.95 paper (2000).

Greg Moo, Power Grab: How the National Education Association is Betraying Our Children, Regnery Publishing, Washington, DC; $24.95 hardcover (1999).

Quentin L. Quade, Financing Education: The Struggle between Government Monopoly and Parental Control, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ; 166 pages (1996).

School Reform

John Chubb and Terry Moe, Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (1990).

Seymour Fliegel with James MacGuire, Miracle in East Harlem, A Manhattan Institute Book, Times Books, New York, NY (1993).

Frederick M. Hess, Spinning Wheels: The Politics of Urban School Reform, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; 228 pages, $39.95 cloth, $16.95 paper (1999).

Paul Thomas Hill, Christine Campbell, James Harvey, and Paul Herdman, It Takes a City: Getting Serious About Urban School Reform, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (2000).

Myron Lieberman, Teachers Evaluating Teachers: Peer Review and the New Unionism, Education Policy Institute, Washington, DC, 137 pages (1998).

Don McAdams, Fighting to Save Our Urban Schools . . . and Winning! Teachers College Press, New York, NY; 312 pages, $46 cloth, $19.95 paper (2000).

Hubert Morken and Jo Renée Formicola, The Politics of School Choice, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, MD; 336 pages, $24.95 paper (1999).

Diane Ravitch (editor), Brookings Papers on Education Policy 1999, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; 300 pages, $19.95 (1999).

Stephen D. Sugarman and Frank R. Kemerer (editors), School Choice and Social Controversy: Politics, Policy, and Law, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (2000 ).

James Tooley, Reclaiming Education, Cassell; $21.95 (2000).

John F. Witte, The Market Approach to Education: An Analysis of America’s First Voucher Program, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (2000).

Religious Issues

Stephen Arons, Compelling Belief, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, NY (1983).

Stephen Arons, Short Route to Chaos: Conscience, Community, and the Reconstitution of American Schooling, University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA; 213 pages (1997).

William Bentley Ball, Mere Creatures of the State? Crisis Books, Notre Dame, IN (1994).

Virgil C. Blum, S.J., Quest for Religious Freedom II, The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, Milwaukee, WI (1986).

Jo Renée Formicola and Hubert Morken, Everson Revisited: Religion, Education, and Law at the Crossroads, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, MD; 242 pages (1997).

Gary Goldberg, Church, State and the Constitution, Regnery Gateway, Washington, DC (1984, 1987).

Lloyd P. Jorgenson, The State and the Non-Public School 1825-1925, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO; 235 pages (1987).

Joseph P. Viteritti, Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution, and Civil Society, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (1999).

Teaching and Content

Denis P. Doyle and Susan Pimentel, Raising the Standard, Corwin Press; 174 pages (1999).

E.D. Hirsch Jr., The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them, Doubleday, New York, NY; 317 pages, $24.95 (1996).

Liping Ma, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; $19.95 (1999).

Diane Ravitch, National Standards in American Education: A Citizen’s Guide, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; 223 pages (1995).

Harold W. Stevenson and James W. Stigler, The Learning Gap, Touchstone Books; $12.00 (1994).

Sandra Stotsky (editor), What’s at Stake in the K-12 Standards Wars : A Primer for Educational Policy Makers, Peter Lang Publishers; $32.95 paper (2000).

Sandra Stotsky, Losing Our Language: How Multicultural Classroom Instruction Is Undermining Our Children’s Ability to Read, Write, and Reason, The Free Press, New York, NY; 316 pages, $26.00 (1999).

Gene Edward Veith Jr. and Andrew Kern, Classical Education–Towards the Revival of American Schooling, Capital Research Center, Washington, DC; 99 pages, $10.00 (1998).

What Parents Can Do

Elaine K. McEwan, Angry Parents, Failing Schools: What’s Wrong With Public Schools and What You Can Do About It, Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, IL; 297 pages, $12.99 (1998).

Elaine K. McEwan, Ten Traits of Highly Successful Schools: How You Can Know If Your School Is a Good One, Harold Shaw Publishers, Wheaton, IL; $12.99 (1999).

Rebecca Rupp, The Complete Home Learning Source Book, Three Rivers Press, New York, NY; 865 pages, $29.95 (1998).

William F. Russell, Family Learning: How to Help Your Children Succeed in School by Learning at Home, First Word Learning Systems Inc., St. Charles, IL; 364 pages, $26.95 paper (1997).

Guy Strickland, Bad Teachers: The Essential Guide for Concerned Parents, Pocket Books, New York, NY; 307 pages, $14.00 (1998).

Charter Schools

Chester E. Finn Jr., Bruno V. Manno, and Gregg Vanourek, Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ (2000).

Bryan C. Hassel, The Charter School Challenge: Avoiding the Pitfalls, Fulfilling the Promises, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC; 193 pages, $39.95 cloth, $16.95 paper (1999).

Robert Maranto, Scott Milliman, Frederick M. Hess, and April Gresham (editors), School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from Arizona Charter Schools, Westview Press (1999).

International Perspectives

John Chubb and Terry Moe, A Lesson in School Reform from Great Britain, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC (1992).

Charles L. Glenn, Choice of Schools in Six Nations, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC (1989).

Charles L. Glenn, Educational Freedom in Eastern Europe, Cato Institute, Washington, DC (1995).

Edward E. Gordon, Skill Wars: Winning the Battle for Productivity and Profit, Butterworth-Heinemann; 340 pages, $21.95 paper (1999).

James Tooley, The Global Education Industry: Lessons from Private Education in Developing Countries, International Finance Corp (1999).

Prep Schools

Arthur G. Powell, Lessons from Privilege: The American Prep School Tradition, Harvard University Press; $16.95 paper (1997).

Websites

Associate Professor Caroline Hoxby Morris Kahn Associate Professor of Economics Harvard University http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/hoxby/hoxby.html

Professor Paul E. Peterson Director Program on Education Policy and Governance Harvard University http://hdc-www.harvard.edu/pepg/