Children As Pawns : The Politics of Educational Reform

Head Start. Bilingual education. Small class size. Social promotion. School funding. Virtually every school system in America has had to face these issues over the past thirty years. Advocates and dissenters have declared confidently that "the research" is on their side. But is it? In the first book to bring together the recent history of educational policy and politics with the research evidence, Timothy Hacsi presents the illuminating, often-forgotten stories of these five controversial topics. He sifts through the complicated evaluation research literature and compares the policies that have been adopted to the best evidence about what actually works. He lucidly explains what the major studies show, what they don't, and how they have been misunderstood and misrepresented. Hacsi shows how rarely educational policies are based on solid research evidence, and how programs that sound plausible simply do not satisfy the complex needs of real children.

Head Start. Bilingual education. Small class size. Social promotion. School funding. Virtually every school system in America has had to face these issues over the past thirty years. Advocates and dissenters have declared confidently that the research is on their side. But is it?

In the first book to bring together the recent history of educational policy and politics with the research evidence, Timothy Hacsi presents the illuminating, often-forgotten stories of these five controversial topics. He sifts through the complicated evaluation research literature and compares the policies that have been adopted to the best evidence about what actually works. He lucidly explains what the major studies show, what they don't, and how they have been misunderstood and misrepresented. Hacsi shows how rarely educational policies are based on solid research evidence, and how programs that sound plausible simply do not satisfy the complex needs of real children.

"Head Start. Bilingual education. Small class size. Social promotion. School funding. Virtually every school system in America has had to face these issues over the past thirty years. Advocates and dissenters have declared confidently that "the research" is on their side. But is it?". "In Children as Pawns, Timothy A. Hacsi continues the astute and deeply researched history of social policies and ideological controversies about the care of children that he began in his widely praised Second Home. Turning now to the swirling politics of education beginning in the mid-twentieth century and continuing today, he brings together the recent history of educational policy and politics with the research evidence that supposedly grounds them. Taking on five of the most controversial school reforms, Hacsi presents the illuminating, often-forgotten stories behind them."--BOOK JACKET. Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 8 Introduction......Page 12 What Difference Does Head Start Make?......Page 32 Is Bilingual Education a Good Idea?......Page 73 Does Class Size Matter?......Page 114 Is Social Promotion a Problem?......Page 155 Does More Money Make Schools Better?......Page 186 Conclusion......Page 215 Notes......Page 228 Suggested Readings......Page 264 Index......Page 268 Timothy A. Hacsi. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.