Keeping the Promise? The Debate Over Charter Schools

Keeping the Promise? The Debate Over Charter Schools helps readers better grasp a growing trend in U.S. public education. Six essays and one interview flesh out the topic’s relevance and significance. For instance, charter schools, begun a decade ago to spur innovation in learning and teaching, have largely pushed out unions. Against that backdrop, the contributors to the book—educators, parents and researchers—localize the factors and forces involved in the trend of charter (contract) schools from the East Coast to the Midwest, South and West Coast. Often, low-income, nonwhite Americans have been easy pickings for charter operators. They proceed in part with help from well-heeled donors, as Kevin Johnson’s St. Hope did with Bill Gates’ dollars to charter Sac High.