Changing Classes
School Reform and the New Economy

Changing Classes tells the story of a small, poor, ethnically-mixed school district in Michigan's rust-belt.

Martin Packer (Author)

9780521642347, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 November 2000

336 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.1 cm, 0.57 kg

"Humane, straightforward, and accessible...Will be relevant to those interested in whole-school and systemic reform. It should also be read by those concerned with developing new genres of educational research representation that are simultaneously accessible to a range of interested readers and more respectful of the research subjects." Mind, Culture, and Activity

How do schools help to create the kind of person a child becomes? Changing Classes tells the story of a small, poor, ethnically-mixed school district in Michigan's rust-belt, a community in turmoil over the announced closing of a nearby auto assembly plant. As teachers and administrators found ways to make schooling more relevant to working-class children, two large-scale school reform initiatives swept into town: the Governor's 'market-place' reforms and the National Science Foundation's 'state systemic initiative'. All this is set against the backdrop of the transformation to a global, post-Fordist economy. The result is an account of the complex linkages at work as society structures the development of children to adulthood.

Preface
1. The Class of 2001
2. Blue Monday: December, 1991–February, 1992
3. Vehicle of reform, drivers of change
4. America's birthday
5. The last First Day
6. Willow run is America: the 1940s and 50s
7. Crossing to the new economy
8. End of year report cards
9. Rest and relaxation?
10. Caught in the middle
11. The change game
12. The future of the kids coming behind us
13. Quality or equality?
14. Coda
Notes.

Subject Areas: Child & developmental psychology [JMC]