Unraveling Reform Rhetoric

Traditional public educators in the US have too little information about the free market of schooling, otherwise known as privatization/choice education. As a result, traditional public education colleagues have lost sight of where they are and how they got there. In this primer, educators, parents/caregivers, and policymakers are offered an examination of the forces and factors that undercut traditional public education and an inquiry into the primary purpose and quality instruction that distinguishes traditional public education from free market schooling.



Without knowing about the educational misdirection fostered by free market schooling, traditional public education in the US cannot invest in continuous improvement necessary to enrich the futures of all students and our nation’s democracy. The time has come for traditional public educators to study how we got out on a limb. This book explores the nature of free market schooling and discusses the information that traditional public educators need to muster a defense of purpose, quality, social justice, and how to think. Practical and theoretical insights throughout this book focus on professional practice in traditional public education as the means by which colleagues can assert excellence on behalf of all students while thwarting the negative impacts of free market schooling.

Jeff Swensson served in traditional public education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent across the Midwest for the past 45 years. He graduated from Amherst College, received his MAT from Northwestern University, and earned his PhD from Indiana University.



John Ellis served public education across Indiana as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent, and Director of the Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents for more than 43 years. He graduated from Ball State University with a BA in education and a Master’s in Education before earning his PhD from Indiana State University.



Michael Shaffer served in schools in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Iowa as an assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. He graduated from Morehead State University with a BA and MA in elementary education and earned his Education Specialist and Education Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Ball State University.