Abstract
AB 900 had a strange mix of goals—those from the prison system and from the educational establishment. Central though is the dream of “evidence-based research” that dominated discussions in public administration in the 2000s.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This is actually a quote from my stepfather, Charles C. Rich, who worked with the Soil Conservation Service in the early years of the Dust Bowl as a civil engineer. They were tasked with teaching farmers how to improve soil conservation in plowing techniques. —Bill Rich
- 2.
Scholars provided a level of critique that focused on the core of the ideals that undergird both NCLB and the entire effective and improving schools movement. These scholars also relied on evidence. Notably, Rothstein (2003) argued that pouring ever more national resources into education might not be the most productive pathway to close the gap. He points out that if we want to preserve the current gap in social class differences, then we must also accept the gap between the achievement of children from middle and lower classes (p. 149). Highlighting the ambitious nature of the Educational Justice goal, Rothstein does not assert it is impossible to achieve. He merely states that it will be much more expensive than anyone wants to believe and that it cannot be the work of the schools alone (p. 149). The central problem is that students need to have families with stable employment, medical care including dental and vision, stable housing, and a crime free, productive social environment in order to thrive.
References
Argyris, C., & Schoen, D. A. (1996). Organizational learning II: Theory, method and practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Avorn, J. (2004). Powerful medicines: The benefits, risks, and costs of prescription drugs. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Coleman, J. S., Campbell, E. Q., Hobson, C. J., McPartland, J., Mood, A. M., Weinfield, F. D., et al. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York, NY: The Free Press/Macmillan (Original work published 1916).
Durkheim, E. (1956). Education and sociology. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Edmonds, R. (1979). Effective schools for the urban poor. Educational Leadership, 37(1), 15–24.
Elmore, R. E. (2004). School reform from the inside out, policy, practice and performance. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Expert Panel. (2007). California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation expert panel on adult offender and recidivism reduction programming: Report to the California State Legislature—A roadmap for effective offender programming in California. Retrieved from Prison Legal News website: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/roadmap_for_effective_offender_programming_ca_panel_recommendations_2007.pdf
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: The Seabury Press.
Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. New York, NY: Anchor Books.
Pierce, L. V. (1991). Effective schools for national origin language minority students. Washington, DC: The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center.
Rhee, M. (2012). Poverty must be tackled but never used as an excuse. Retrieved from Huffington Post website: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michelle-rhee/poverty-must-be-tackled-b_b_1857423.html
Rothstein, R. (2003). Class and schools: Using social, economic, and educational reform to close the black-white achievement gap. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Scott, J. C. (1990). Domination and the arts of resistance, hidden transcripts. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Slavin, R. E. (2013). Overcoming four barriers to evidence based education. Education Week Online, 32(30). Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/05/01/30slavin.h32.html
Uggen, C., & Staff, S. (2004). Work as a turning point for criminal offenders. In J. L. Krienert & M. S. Fleisher (Eds.), Crime and employment: Critical issues in crime reduction for corrections (pp. 141–166). Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
Wasley, P., Hampel, R., & Clark, R. (1997). The puzzle of whole-school change. Phi Delta Kappan, 78, 690–697.
Waters, T. (2012). Schooling, bureaucracy, and childhood: Bureaucratizing the child. New York, NY: Palgrave.
Weber, M. (2015). Weber’s rationalism and modern society: New translations on politics, bureaucracy, and social stratification (T. Waters & D. Waters, Eds. & Trans.). New York, NY: Palgrave (Original work published 1921).
Wilson, J. Q. (1989). Bureaucracy: What government agencies do and why they do it. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Dick, A.j., Rich, W., Waters, T. (2016). Prison Logic Meets Educational Research Logic: The Undiscussables of Evidence-Based Decision-Making. In: Prison Vocational Education and Policy in the United States. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56469-6_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56469-6_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56468-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56469-6
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)