Public and private education in America : examining the facts / Casey D. Cobb and Gene V Glass.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

How to use this book -- Introduction -- 1. Private vs. public schools. Do students in private schools outperform students enrolled in public schools? ; Are political conservatives and corporations the biggest supporters of privatization of the American K-12 school system? ; Do private schools accept students with disabilities? ; Are public and private school teachers similar in their educational and socioeconomic backgrounds? -- 2. School choice : competition, stratification, homeschooling, and vouchers. Do market-based reforms such as school choice increase competition and improve school performance? ; Do school choice programs contribute to the resegregation of American schools? ; Does homeschooling lead to better outcomes for students than traditional public schools? ; Do school vouchers produce better student outcomes? ; Do education tax credits and education savings accounts divert money from public to private schools? -- 3. School choice : charter schools. Do charter schools have significant variations in structure, operations, and performance from school to school? ; Are charter schools actually public schools? ; Are charter schools more innovative than traditional public schools? ; Do charter schools perform better than traditional public schools? ; Are poorly performing charter schools closed down? ; Are most publicly funded charter schools operated by Education Management Organizations and Charter Management Organizations? -- 4. Standards, accountability, and assessment. Have standards-based reforms worked to improve the academic performance of American schoolchildren? ; Are the Common Core state standards a national initiative - and if so, do they amount to a national curriculum? ; Has time that students spend preparing for and taking standardized tests increased dramatically in U.S. public schools? ; Has high-stakes testing improved schools? ; Is it difficult for public schools to fire bad teachers? ; Do assessment systems exist that can accurately capture the value-added impact of teachers on their students' test scores? ; Is the United States lagging behind other nations in K-12 education? ; How are the political interests that shape education policy organized? -- 5. Teaching and Learning. Do later school start times make a difference in children's learning? ; Is bilingual education effective? ; Does homework increase student achievement? -- 6. School environment. Are students disciplined disproportionately by race and gender? ; Are small schools better than large schools in providing a quality education to students? ; Are American schools less safe now than in the past? ; Are public and private schools still racially and economically segregated? ; Do today's full-time virtual schools offer a high-quality education for students? ; Do students learn more in smaller classes?

"This title will give students and other readers a clear understanding of the true state of public and private education systems in the United States by refuting falsehoods, misunderstandings, and exaggerations--and confirming the validity of other assertions"--