Challenging the popular perception that the free market can objectively ameliorate inequality and markedly improve student academic achievement, this book examines the overly positivistic rhetoric surrounding charter schools. By linking charter schools to broader social issues and political economic factors, such as neoliberalism, race, and class, The Charter School Solution presents a more complete and nuanced assessment of charter schools in the context of the American public education system.

Introduction: The Charter School Solution: Distinguishing Fact From Rhetoric Jamel K. Donnor and Tara L. Affolter 1. Chartering Charade in Washington State: The Anti-Democratic Politics of the Charter School Movement and the Removal of the Public from Public Education Wayne Au 2. Democracy, Charter Schools, and the Politics of Choice Eleni Schirmer and Michael W. Apple 3. Charter Schools, Unjust Labor Practices, and the Jeopardization of Teaching as a Profession Sarah Stitzelein and Barrett Smith 4. Consequence of Unionization: Charter School Teachers and the Culture of Choice Elizabeth Montaño 5. Discursive violence and economic retrenchment: Chartering the sacrifice of Black educators in Post-Katrina New Orleans Kevin Lawrence Henry 6. Struggling for Community and Equity in New Orleans Public Schools: Lessons from a First-Year Charter School Joseph L. Boselovic 7. Segregated by Choice? Urban Charter Schools and Education Choices for Black Students and Disadvantaged Families in the U.S. Erling E. Boe, Shaun R. Harper, and Katherine M. Barghaus Afterword: Schools of Education as Stakeholders in the Charter School Debate Virginia L. McLaughlin

Tara L. Affolter is Assistant Professor of Education Studies, Middlebury College, USA.

Jamel K. Donnor is Assistant Professor of Education, The College of William and Mary, USA.