ABSTRACT
Although severe national fiscal difficulties and widespread cynicism threaten to cripple the national will to reshape educational policy at any level, public awareness and an accompanying desire to remedy the problems besetting schools through systemic reforms have never been stronger (Kozol 1991; Howe 1993; Smith and O'Day 1990). This combination of factors creates opportunities for private-sector groups and others to effect change. In this chapter we explore the ways in which such efforts, sometimes backed and partially funded by the government, can reshape the nature of schooling. In particular, we focus on the effects of two types of communities: neighborhoods (geographically and ethnoculturally defined) that pursue local interests, and the larger business community, intent on furthering its own agenda. We deal with both the barriers to and opportunities for positive change, concluding with a plan for reform that takes into account the sometimes antithetical objectives of these constituencies while maintaining a focus on both the social and pedagogical aspects of schools.
