Overview
- Addresses what may be the civil rights issue of our time – inequality of opportunity and its impact on growing numbers of Americans, future generations, and the nation as a whole
- Expertise provided by individuals representing a range of areas, including economics, education, demography, and public policy
- Provides a balanced foundation for understanding a topic of high public policy interest
Buy print copy
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
About this book
How did we get to a place where circumstances of birth have become so determinative? And what must we do, within communities and across our country, to better equalize opportunity for more Americans – both young and old? The editors of this volume contend that if, as a nation, we do nothing, then we will continue to drift apart, placing an unsustainable strain on the nation’s social fabric and the character of its democracy. Consequently, understanding the dynamics governing the distribution and transmission of opportunity – and transforming this understanding into policies and programs – is critical for not only the life outcomes of individual Americans and their children, but also the country as a whole.
The goal of Educational Testing Service’s Opportunity in America initiative is to explore these powerful dynamics and to describe and convey them in a way that advances the national conversation about why we must take action – and how best to do so. This volume contains 14 chapters, including an epilogue, written by leaders from a range of fields including education, economics, demography, and political science. Collectively, they not only illuminate key aspects of the problem but also offer suggestions of what policies, programs, and changes in practices could begin to reverse the trends we are seeing. Written in an engaging style, this volume constitutes an essential foundation for informed discussion and strategic analysis.
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (14 chapters)
-
Understanding Where We Are Today
-
The Labor Market
-
Education and Opportunity
-
Politics and the Road Ahead
-
Seeking Inclusive Prosperity
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Editors
Irwin Kirsch is Tyler Chair in Large-Scale Assessment and Director of the
Center for Global Assessment at Educational Testing Service (ETS). He also
serves as Project Director of ETS’s Opportunity in America initiative.
Henry Braun is Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy in the
Lynch School of Education and Director of the Center for the Study of Testing,
Evaluation, and Education Policy at Boston College. He also serves as Project
Co-Director of ETS’s Opportunity in America initiative.
Contributors
Bruce Baker is Professor at the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers
University and maintains blogs on school finance and educational policy.
Jared Bernstein is a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities. He previously served as Chief Economist and Economic Adviser to
Vice President Joe Biden.
Danielle Farrie is Research Director of the Education Law Center in
Newark, New Jersey.
Chrystia Freeland is the Canadian Minister of International Trade and
Member of Parliament for University-Rosedale, Toronto, author of Plutocrats:
The Rise of the New Global Super-rich and the Fall of Everyone Else, and
journalist.
Harry J. Holzer is Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at
Georgetown University and is an Institute Fellow at the American Institutes for
Research. He previously served as Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of
Labor.
Carl Kaestle is University Professor of Education, History, and Public
Policy emeritus at Brown University.
Ishwar Khatiwada is a Labor Economist at the Center for Labor Markets
and Policy at Drexel University.
Robert I. Lerman is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute, Emeritus
Professor of Economics at American University, and a Research Fellow at IZA in
Bonn, Germany. He is also the Founder of the American Institute for Innovative
Apprenticeship.
Douglas S. Massey is the Henry G. Bryant Professor of Sociology and
Public Affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs.
Leslie McCall is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Faculty
Fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University.
Jennifer A. O’Day is an Institute Fellow of the American Institutes for
Research and is the Founder and Chair of the California Collaborative on
District Reform.
Richard V. Reeves is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, Co-Director of
the Center on Children and Families, and Editor-in-Chief of the Social Mobility
Memos blog at the Brookings Institution.
David G. Sciarra is Executive Director of the Education Law Center in
Newark, New Jersey.
Timothy M. (Tim) Smeeding is the Arts and Sciences Distinguished
Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. He was previously Director of the Institute for Research on
Poverty at Wisconsin-Madison.
Marshall S. Smith is a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching, a former Dean and Professor at Stanford, and a former
Under Secretary and Acting Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education
in the Clinton administration. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences and the National Academy of Education.
Andrew M. Sum is Professor Emeritus of Economics at Northeastern
University in Boston. He was previously the Director of the Center for Labor
Market Studies.
Jonathan Tannen is a Doctoral Candidate in the Urban and Population
clusters of the Woodrow Wilson School and the Office of Population Research at
Princeton University.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Dynamics of Opportunity in America
Book Subtitle: Evidence and Perspectives
Editors: Irwin Kirsch, Henry Braun
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25991-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Education, Education (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-25989-5Published: 29 January 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-79873-8Published: 30 March 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-25991-8Published: 22 January 2016
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXVIII, 489
Number of Illustrations: 68 b/w illustrations, 18 illustrations in colour
Topics: Educational Policy and Politics, Public Policy, Economic Policy, Knowledge - Discourse, Labor Economics