Daniel Q. Gonzalez ENGL 1102 Mrs. Keaton 24 April 2013 Annotated Bibliography Jones, Jeffrey M. In U.S.

, Private Schools Get Top Marks for Educating Children. Gallup Poll Briefing (Aug 2012): 1-2. Print. In this article, Gallup asked Americans to rate private and public schools based on their own experiences or what they have heard. Seventy-eight percent of Americans stated that children in private schools receive an excellent education compared to thirty-seven percent who said public schools were better. Public schools received the poorest rating, despite the fact that most of American children attend a public school. There is also a political distinction in how people rate the quality of schools. Republicans are more positive about home schooling, while Democrats believe public schools are better. The low rating that public schools received is because parents are dissatisfied with the K-12 schooling in U.S. Jones argues that Americans have a very general sense that education is not where it needs to be, possibly due to news media stating American students are behind students in other countries. This article gives one an understanding of what Americans consider to be the best schooling in America. Jones starts off describing the ratings that Americans give and how they truly believe private schools are superior. While jones is analyzing that parents are happy about their own childs school she does not talk the inconsistency in differences of opinions in own childs schools with public schools in general. She also did a random survey. She is not telling

the reader which parents were from a private school or were from a public school on what they thought. I can use this source in my work when I want to describe what people think of the different schooling in America. This article left me thinking how people relied on the media when they took the survey. American people arent well educated when it comes to rating schools. Public schools get a relatively poor rating, even through the vast majority of American children are educated in public schools. (2) Americans are much more inclined to believe students in private, parochial, or charter schools receive a high-quality education than to say this about students in public schools and those who are home schooled. (2) Rather, Americans may just have a general sense that U.S. public education is not where it needs to be, perhaps due to news media reports that American students lag behind students in other countries in basic academic skills. (2) Weissbourd, Richard. Senseless Extravagance. ASCD.org. (May 2012): 75-78. Web. Accessed March 20, 2013. In this article, Weissbourd argues that the level of luxury that independent schools receive does not benefit childrens academic, emotional, social, or moral development. Weissbourd talks about how a couple of years ago he transferred his daughter from a public school to Beaver Country Day School, an independent school in the Boston area. When visiting he asked a parent what she thought about the school. The parent complained that the school did not have enough land. Beaver already has 15 acres of luxurious buildings and athletic fields. Other schools around have ten times as much land. The author explains how there is a vast gap in

resources between independent and most public schools. In Weissbourds view, these types of luxuries are indisputably bad for wealthy kids. Also he states how school funding and education quality is complex. Weissbourd does a great job at describing his argument of how there is a gap between independent and public schools. He explains his argument well and it is clear to the reader. The article gives the reader a well understanding of even though private institutions receive luxurious donations and have the most funds it does not always mean that a better education is given. Weissbourd does a lot of research about independent schools in how they handle their funds for school uses. He finds out most of the time more money is getting invested into buildings, rather than trying to improve academics. One of Weissbourds main points that he argued is that schools should ask whether their spending reflects on the schools core values. This article helped me out a lot and it let me learn more about independent schools. I did not realize how much money these schools were receiving from outside donors. If people are willing to donate so much money to independent schools, why not donate to public schools where most American children attend? Weissbourds article will also help me argue that there is no education equality in schools. Our public education system was built on principles articulated by Horace Mann, who imagined a system that is one and the same for both rich and poor with all citizens on the same footing of equality before the law of the land(76) Some donors, it is said, are also more interested in funding facilities carrying their name than in funding things like curriculum or professional development. (77) What perhaps is most distressing is that fewer and fewer Americans appear to feel shock and anguish that some of our children are left behind, stranded, always climbing uphill

while other children are growing up in rarified, precious circumstances beyond any semblance of rational understanding. (78) Schneider, Mark. What Do Parents Want from Schools? Evidence from the internet. JSTOR.org. American Educational Research Association, (Summer 2002): 133-144. Web. Accessed March 20, 2013. In this article, it helps the reader understand what parents are looking for in schools, when they want to change schools for their children. Schneider did a lot of research through DCSchool.com and through feedback he received when doing phone surveys. He argues how school choice is one of the main themes in todays school reform movement. Schneider also makes the point that having a preference will affect the socioeconomic and racial composition of schools. With his evidence he shows that having this unrestrained choice will lead to unwanted outcomes in how students are distributed, and it can lead to reduced pressure on schools to improve academic performance. He makes the point that parents do not always make the best choices. Schneider explains how parents make choices that have nothing to do with the quality of education. Research showed how parents with low-income are the ones that are making these poor decisions, while high-income parents, are focusing their choices more on schools with higher academic statuses. This article gives the one the reasoning of why parents are choosing certain schools for their kids and what they are basing their decisions on. Schneider starts the article off by explaining that school choice is one of the central themes in todays school reform movement. This article did not have any information that was not useful. I was actually able to use this as my main source when I argued something about my topic. Information that I could not find in other sources was found in this article. All the graphs that were included made it easier to

comprehend what his research meant and what was being compared. I do believe that he made his point clear and had a strong argument. He emphasized how making poor decisions in school choice can lead to increased segregation and perhaps less pressure on schools to improve. He argues that parents do not always make their decisions on education factors. This article first lets me understand how parents are making choices on what schools they are choosing for their kids. I agree with the writer because I have seen cases like this back home. I know of students that stopped going to my school and transferred into private schools based on their sports. Based on this evidence we suggest that unfettered choice may lead to undesirable outcomes in the distribution of students, and it may also lead to reduced pressure on schools to improve academic performance. (133) If, indeed, large numbers of parents do not value appropriate educational values and base their choice on ancillary or irrelevant school characteristics, schools will have incentives to emphasize the wrong performance criteria. (134) Data shows that race is fundamentally important to them. These results are congruent with studies of actual behavior showing that race and class strongly affect choice. (142) Sarah Theule Lubienski and Christopher Lubienski American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 43, No. 4 (Winter 2006), pp. 651-698. Print. In this article, data from the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress was used to compare mathematic achievements in public, charter, and major types of private schools. Lubienski examined if whether the differences in success are due to differences in school performances or student demographics. She found that private schools tended to be the ones with the highest scores. The reason she specifically examined the relationship between demographic

and achievements was because there is no reason to expect private schools to always be the most successful. The writer also made the point that public schools are thought of to have more resources than private (independent and charter) schools. And public school teachers and administrators are usually required to have a certain level of certification. During this discussion she states with all this information related to high student success, one would anticipate that public schools could perform well. Lubienski starts this article by describing an experiment that he studied. Lubienskis argument is all based on research that was done on two different grade levels fourth and eighth grade math scores. What I believe Lubienski should add to this article is perhaps study research that was done of older grade levels. The reason I believe he should have done this is because I think once students get to higher grade levels they can for sure show what they have learned throughout their school years and if they have obtained that information. Just focusing on fourth and eighth graders does not really say if whether private or public education is better. Having focused on higher grade levels would have helped his argument. After reading this article a question that came to mind was, why is it necessary for the government to run public schools if private organizations can function better alone? This article is very beneficial to my paper because it is a good credible source and it talked about research on the impact of school sector on achievement. I can relate this to how there is big gap between public schooling and private schooling. I did find a lot of interesting and useful information that I did not find in other articles. For example, the writer has reason to believe that school organization on academic achievement does not affect public schools, and public school success achievement is near equal to or higher than of other types of schools.

Why is it necessary for the government to operate schools for the public if the private sector can better serve that function? (654)

Public schools are input-oriented organizations accountable to bureaucracies, not to consumers, so they lack structural incentives to innovate, improve, or respond to demands for quality from the groups that they serve. (654)

So while private schools tend to draw more advantaged families that can afford the added costs, if such schools can be shown to achieve superior results with the same types of students who attend public schools. (655)

Koetzsch, Ronald E. The Parents Guide to Alternatives in Education. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1997. Print. The first section in this book starts out talking about public education, and how it first started out in colonel America. Education back then was usually a private and family concern. Parents thought their children the basic skills; how to read and write. In 1674, a law required that each town hire a schoolmaster and all children must attend school. The writer also briefly explains how it was not until the eighteenth century that the idea of public education as a statecontrolled became important. Thomas Jefferson was a passionate advocate of free education. He argued that a public education system would educate all citizens so they would make informed and wise decisions. Also equal education was provided for children who came from rich and poor families. Koetzsch also goes over the four assumptions that free education was founded on. The first being, that the state has responsibility to educate all of its citizens. The state has the right to force all parents to send their children to school. Also, the state can force the community to support education by paying taxes. And finally the state determines the nature of education it offers.

The section that I read from this book gives one a lot of information regarding back to how education first started out and how it was meant to be. Even just reading the first couple of pages from each chapter it gave me new information that I could not find in my other sources. This book did a great job at describing the full range of current alternatives in education. Koetzsch did well by not letting his bias be reflected when he talked about each type of school. I can say that there was not anything missing from this book. Everything was so clear and easy to understand. What Koetzsch is trying to point out is that education should be how our founding fathers first started it. He also explains himself well when he talked about how what education was founded upon. The information in the first chapter of the book helps the reader to understand how education was first started. From what I have read in this book so far I plan to use to explain how education was equal when it was first getting constructed. This is helpful because it will give readers a understanding of how education was first based. supported public education as a way of reducing the privileges and advantages of the social, economic, and educational elite and of elevating the lower classes. (4) public schools would ensure that all people would acquire the basic skills for being a citizen and have an equal opportunity for social and economic advancement. (4) many parents have their children in public schools only because they cannot afford a private school. (20)