Cuba's Academic Advantage: Why Students in Cuba Do Better in School

In this book, Martin Carnoy explores the surprising success of the Cuban educational system, where the average elementary school student learns much more than her Latin American peers. In developing the case for Cuba's supportive social context and centralized management of education, Carnoy asks important questions about educational systems in general. How responsible should government be for creating environments that encourage academic achievement? How much autonomy should teachers and schools have over their classrooms? Is there an inherent tradeoff between promoting individual choice and a better system of schooling? Cuba's Academic Advantage challenges many prevailing views about the effectiveness of educational markets, school and teacher autonomy, decentralized decision-making, and government responsibility for children's social and economic welfare. Drawing on interviews with teachers, principals, and policymakers, as well as hours of videotaped material taken in more than 30 classrooms, this book brings new evidence to bear on controversial educational issues currently under debate in many countries.

Author: Martin Carnoy
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 03/12/2007
Pages: 223
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.67lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.46w x 0.47d
ISBN13: 9780804755986
ISBN10: 0804755981
BISAC Categories:
- Education | Comparative
- Education | Schools | Levels | Elementary

About the Author
Martin Carnoy is Professor of Education and Economics at Stanford University. He is the author of All Else Equal: Are Private and Public Schools Different (2002), Sustaining the New Economy: Work, Family and Community in the Information Age (2000), and Faded Dreams: The Economics and Politics of Race in America (1994).