The Emancipatory Promise of Charter Schools : Toward a Progressive Politics of School Choice

This book opens up a critical conversation among progressive educators of various generations, races, perspectives, and social locations about one specific school reform initiative--charter schools. Eric Rofes and Lisa M. Stulberg bring together scholars who both study and actively participate in school choice reform and charge them to be "bold in their questioning and assertive in their own ambivalence" about this complex, racially charged public issue. The editors argue that unlike school vouchers, charter school reform during its first decade illustrates that these institutions can play a powerful role in reviving participation in public education, expanding opportunities for progressive methods in public school classrooms, and providing new energy to community-based, community-controlled school initiatives. The result is a groundbreaking volume that pushes boundaries, questions assumptions, and rocks foundations of progressive thought.