Radical Dreamers: Race, Choice, and the Failure of American Education - Hardcover

by Joseph P. Viteritti (Author)

An immersive and authoritative history of the school choice movement--from its idealistic roots among Black activists to the costly unaccountable programs of today.

Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education and demands to desegregate public schools, race and class remain the most reliable predictors of educational achievement in America. In attempting to address this divide, many school reformers have championed school choice: solutions like charter schools, vouchers, and other innovations designed to build more options into the system. Today, at least thirty-five states have laws that enable parents to send their children to private and religious schools at public expense while forty-six states have legalized charter schools.

Author Biography

Joseph P. Viteritti is the Thomas Hunter Professor of Public Policy at Hunter College in New York. He has published a dozen books, including Choosing Equality: School Choice, the Constitution and Civil Society. His numerous articles have appeared in scholarly journals, law reviews, and popular venues, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Nation. He gave expert testimony in the landmark US Supreme Court case, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002), and was cited by the Court in Espinosa v. Montana (2020), both of which pertained to the issue of school choice. He has served as a senior advisor to the chancellor of the New York City public schools, as well as the school superintendents in Boston and San Francisco.