Suchergebnisse

This article examines the determinants of school choice (government, Catholic or other independent schools) as well as the success in completing year 12 for cohorts of students born in 1961 and 1970. The results show that those attending Catholic and other independent schools have favourable socio‐economic backgrounds. Ability has a significant and positive effect on the probability of completing year 12. There is no evidence of unobserved selection effects on the probability of completing year 12 for the 1961 cohort. For the 1970 cohort, there is negative selection into other independent schools and positive selection into Catholic schools. Decomposition results further reveal that selection on the basis of observed characteristics accounts for only a small part of the observed differences in year 12 completion rates across the three school systems. In comparison, selection on the basis of unobserved factors is an important part of the difference in year 12 completion rates. The school effects for both cohorts are much larger than those reported in previous studies.

Why parents prefer private schools when the government schools provide education free of cost is the major question confronting the social scientists in contemporary India. What constitutes school choice and what is the nature of the relationship between the socio-economic background of the children studying in government and private schools are some of the key research questions addressed in this article. What is the response of the Dalits towards government and private schools, as most of the previous empirical studies are based on government schools? The current article, based on an empirical study conducted in private schools in Telangana, argues that caste, class and gender play a significant role in shaping school choice among the Dalits. Though a Dalit middle-class parent provides equal opportunity for his/her daughter on par with a son, working-class Dalit parents prefer a private school for sons and a government school for daughters. As English as medium of instruction provided in private schools is perceived as a standard of quality, and, therefore, the aspired option tends to attract Dalits to private schools, they experience the paradoxical situation. On the one hand, they are not happy with the functioning of government schools; on the other, they find it extremely difficult to cope up with the multiple demands of private schools such as higher fees and hidden forms of discrimination on the lines of caste and class.

In dem vorliegenden Beitrag werden neuere schulgesetzliche Initiativen erörtert, die u.a. eine Reform des Übertritts aus der Grundschule an weiterführende Schulen beabsichtigen. Diese Bemühungen ordnen sich in die schon lange zu beobachtende Tendenz zur Stärkung der individuellen Rechte von Schülern und Eltern ein, wie sie mit dem Prozeß der Verrechtlichung der Schule in der Bundesrepublik verbunden ist. Eine genauere Betrachtung der entsprechenden Regelungen und einiger dadurch ausgelöster gerichtlicher Konflikte weckt allerdings Zweifel an Voraussetzungen und insbesondere an Ergebnissen der eingeleiteten Politik: Handelt es sich nicht doch um eine versteckte Form der staatlichen Steuerung der Schulwahl? (DIPF/Orig.) ; The author discusses recent initiatives concerning school law which aim, among other things, at a reform of the transition from elementary to secondary school. These efforts are part of a long-time trend to strengthen the individual rights of both students and parents which is linked to an increase in legal regulations of schooling in the Federal Republic of Germany. However, a closer look at the respective regulations and at some of the judicial conflicts caused by them raises doubts as to the preconditions and, especially, as to the results of the policy launched: Does it not still represent a covert form of State control concerning the choice of school? (DIPF/Orig.)

Die chronischen Schwierigkeiten der amerikanischen Schulpolitik, das amerikanische Schulsystem dem Leistungsniveau anderer entwickelter Industriegesellschaften anzugleichen, werden in diesem Beitrag als Ausdruck von tiefer liegenden Konflikten in der amerikanischen politischen Kultur interpretiert. Die These ist, daß der die amerikanische politische Kultur kennzeichnende Widerspruch zwischen den Forderungen nach Freiheit des Individuums und den Forderungen nach Gleichheit der Sozialchancen eine wichtige Ursache für die zu beobachtende Polarisierung und Selbstblockierung der Schulreform zwischen Schulwahlfreiheit und Chancengleicheit, zwischen Bildungsindividualismus und staatlichem Finanzausgleich ist. Die Aussichten, zu tiefgreifenden Verbesserungen der Schulausbildung zu kommen, dürften somit auch von der Fähigkeit der amerikanischen Politik abhängen, die gerade im letzten Jahrzent zugespitzte Polarisierung der Schulreformer in feindliche ideologische Lager zu überwinden. (DIPF/Text übernommen) ; The United States' persistent difficulties to revitalize public education and implement "world standards" are interpreted in the context of deep-seated conflicts in the American political culture. The paper argues that the conflict between individual liberty and equality, characteristic as it is for American political culture, is at the bottom of the polarization and self-obstruction of American school reform between the imperatives of "choice" and "equality", "excellence" and "equity". The prospects for profound change would, so it seems, depend on the ability of American educators and politicians, to overcome the polarization and provide a rationale for public education capable of integrating the opposing, but in a certain sense complementary demands of excellence and equity.

Drawing on a year and a half of ethnographic research in three New York City small high schools, this study examines the role of the school in managing school choice and asks what social processes are associated with principals' disparate approaches. Although district policy did not allow principals to select students based on their performance, two of the three schools in this study circumvented these rules to recruit and retain a population that would meet local accountability targets. This article brings together sensemaking and social network theories to offer a theoretical account of schools' management of choice in an era of accountability. In doing so, the author demonstrates that principals' sensemaking about the accountability and choice systems occurred within the interorganizational networks in which they were embedded and was strongly conditioned by their own professional biographies and worldviews. Principals' networks offered access to resources that could be activated to make sense of the accountability and choice systems. How principals perceived accountability and choice policies influenced whether they activated their social networks for assistance in strategically managing the choice process, as well as how they made sense of advice available to them through these networks. Once activated, principals' networks provided uneven access to instrumental and expressive resources. Taken together, these results suggest that schools respond to accountability and choice plans in varied ways that are not simply a function of their short-term incentives.

School Choice: A Balanced Approach is the most comprehensive examination of traditional public schools, public charter schools, and faith-based schools that has ever been undertaken. By considering and comparing the overall data on these three types of educational systems, it provides insight on likely outcomes of school choice programs. The author's objective is not to advance any particular agenda, but rather to provide readers with an unbiased analysis of research that has been embraced by both the G.W. Bush and Obama administrations that will allow for fresh thinking and the better