With contributions from Linda Darling-Hammond, Michael Fullan, Pasi Sahlberg, and Martin Carnoy, Global Education Reform is an eye-opening analysis of national educational reforms and the types of high-achieving systems needed to serve all students equitably. The collection documents the ideologically and educationally distinctive approaches countries around the world have taken to structuring their education systems. Focusing on three pairs of case studies written by internationally acclaimed experts, the book provides a powerful analysis of the different ends of an ideological spectrum----from strong state investments in public education to market-based approaches.
An introductory chapter offers an overview of the theories guiding both neoliberal reforms such as those implemented in Chile, Sweden and the United States with efforts to build strong and equitable public education systems as exemplified by Cuba, Finland and Canada. The pairs of case studies that follow examine the historical evolution of education within an individual country and compare and contrast national educational outcomes. A concluding chapter dissects the educational outcomes of the differing economic and governance approaches, as well as the policy implications.
"This book is both brilliantly conceived and timely. Through paired comparisons of education systems engaging with global education reforms, leading education scholars in this book investigate how a privatization versus public investment model tends to generate very different outcomes for their citizens, and ultimately for their societies. It is comparative education scholarship at its best in that its findings should be on every policy maker's agenda."
-- Susan L. Robertson, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol, UK
"Does educational choice and privatization create better schools or just segregation and inequality? The results in these studies may surprise you, but there is a verdict and an alternative."
-- Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, USA
" The lessons in each chapter equip students, parents, policymakers and other education stakeholders with a clear understanding of how privatization and profit drive "education reform" instead of teaching and learning. The book clearly demonstrates thatwe should heed the warnings from around the world that market-based reforms further disadvantage our most vulnerable students."
--Julian Vasquez Heilig, Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, California State University Sacramento, USA
"Global Education Reform is a book with numerous strengths that should be studied carefully by policy makers and all students of educational change."
-- Dennis Shirley, Boston College, USA
