EP 928 What Innovations Can Enhance School Performance?

Seventy years after Brown vs. Board of Education and the movement to promote educational equality, race and class remain the most reliable predictors of educational achievement in America.  In attempting to address this divide, school reformers have turned to solutions like charter schools, vouchers and other innovations designed to build more choice into the system.  Yet, school choice and conservative and liberal approaches to it have changed over the years.  The inside story of how the school choice movement emerged in the 1990’s presents a situation where Black activists joined forces with conservative lawmakers. Yet today’s school choice movement has evolved, championed by Republicans, conservatives, and faith-based organizations who have taken school choice to a very different place.  And liberals have generally shown a skepticism about many choice options which might starve the public schools of resources.  As test results continue to disappoint, new alliances and approaches may be needed.  We’re joined by Joseph Viteritti, the Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College, and author of “Radical Dreamers: Race, Choice, and the Failure of American Education,” to discuss.

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