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REVIEWS:

“A professor of education policy examines how a small group of wealthy conservatives developed a rationale to privatize schools and support school vouchers. Cowen…makes a solid argument that vouchers do more harm than good…A well-researched book."

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~Kirkus Reviews

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NEW RELEASE:

The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers

HARVARD EDUCATION PRESS, SEPT 10 2024

A deep-dive investigation of education privatization that reveals voucher programs as the faulty products of decades of work by wealthy patrons and influential conservatives.

 

In The Privateers, Josh Cowen lays bare the surprising history of tax-funded school choice programs in the United States and warns of the dangers of education privatization. A former evaluator of state and local school voucher programs, Cowen demonstrates how, as such programs have expanded in the United States, so too has the evidence-informed case against them. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Cowen

Josh Cowen is a professor of education policy at Michigan State University and an author on topics related to education politics, school choice, and culture wars in the United States. In addition to all of the major academic outlets in his research field, his popular writing has appeared in outlets such as the Dallas Morning News, the Detroit Free Press, the Hechinger Report, the Houston Chronicle, the New Republic, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Slate, Time Magazine, The Tennessean, the Washington Spectator, and more. He lives in mid-Michigan with his family.

education policy author 

SELECT PRESS

School Kids

How School Vouchers Hurt Students

Time Magazine

In recent months, state legislatures across the country have broadened efforts to subsidize private school tuition with taxpayer dollars. New proposals for these programs—collectively called school vouchers—have appeared in more than a dozen states and passed as major priorities for Republican governors. . . . But do school vouchers actually work? As an analyst who has studied these and other forms of school choice for nearly two decades, I’m in a good position to give an answer. And based on data from existing voucher programs, the answer is almost unambiguously negative.

Writing a test

After two decades of studying voucher programs, I’m now firmly opposed to them

The Hechinger Report

Vouchers are dangerous to American education. They promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety. In small doses, years ago, vouchers seemed like they might work, but as more states have created more and larger voucher programs, experts like me have learned enough to say that these programs on balance can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.

SELECT MEDIA

Here Are The People Destroying Public Education
10:20

Here Are The People Destroying Public Education

Failing Civics: The Nation's Report Card
01:51

Failing Civics: The Nation's Report Card

Does School Choice Harm Or Help US Education? | Breaking Points w/James Li
12:04

Does School Choice Harm Or Help US Education? | Breaking Points w/James Li

©2024 JOSH COWEN

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