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 -- Public vs. private 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? -- School choice part I : 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? -- School choice part II : 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? -- Standards, accountability, and assessment -- Have standards-based reforms worked to improve the academic performance of American school children? -- 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 U.S. lagging behind other nations in K-12 education? -- How are the political interests that shape education policy organized? -- Teaching and Learning -- Do later school start times make a difference in children's learning? -- Is bilingual education effective? -- Does homework increase student achievement? -- 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"-- Provided by publisher.