sfaction with the product of the nation's public schools. Of the many approaches to educational reform advocated, one of the more persistent and controversial would require public schools to function within a framework of business concepts (Hesse, 1997).
Generally, proponents of requiring public schools to function within a framework of business concepts state that they want to make public schools cost-effective. An American public that has witnessed the introduction of the cost-effect concept into the nation's health care system through managed care tends, not surprisingly, to be wary of such a suggestion for public education. More specifically, proponents of this approach to public education reform tend to vary in exactly what type of reform they are seeking. Some proponents state that the road to reform lies in partnerships between public schools and businesses. Others call for the privatization of public schools (Ascher, 1996).
Some parents, however, seek public school reform through different approaches. There is the home schooling movement (Hill, 2000). There is the charter school movement ("Statement on Signing the Charter School Expansion Act of 1998," 1998). There is the school vouchers movement (Miller, 1999), and there is the demand for parental choice in school selection (Ravitch & Viteritti, 1996).
Lastly, there is the call for cost-effective public education. Advocates of cost-effective public education proposed that demonstrated performance be the basis of public school funding. A major problem with this approach has been on a failure to develop a consensus on performance measures (Burke & Modarresi, 2000).
Variations in reform approaches appear to cause the development of any consensus on the nature of reform to be elusive at best. In fact, however, all of the various approaches to public education reform are seeking the same outcome รน accountability from public schools. Accountability means that...