A Review of ‘The Economics of School Choice’

School choice reforms have been proposed as ways to enhance efficiency, equity, and effectiveness in education. This study examines the consequences of participating in public high school choice in Chicago, a city with a wide variety of choice programs, including career academies, charter schools, magnet schools, and selective test-based college prep high schools. The analysis uses population-level administrative and survey data on all public school eighth graders enrolled in Chicago to estimate the effect of school choice participation on on-time graduation propensity (i.e., in 4 years). Techniques employed to estimate this effect include propensity score, catchment area fixed effects, and multilevel analysis. Results suggest that there is a modest positive graduation benefit from exercising school choice. There are no racial/ethnic differences in the choice benefit, but low-achieving students benefit less from high school choice than high-achieving students. In addition, students in high-poverty neighborhoods gain less from exercising choice than do students in low-poverty neighborhoods. These findings call into question the extent to which school choice enhances equity for low-achieving students and students in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Exploring the School Choice Universe: Evidence and Recommendations gives readers a comprehensive, complete picture of choice policies and issues. In doing so, it offers cross-cutting insights that are obscured when one looks only at single issue or a single approach to choice. The book examines choice in its various forms: charter schools, home schooling, online schooling, voucher plans that allow students to use taxpayer funds to attend private schools, tuition tax credit plans that provide a public subsidy for private school tuition, and magnet schools and other forms of public school intra- and interdistrict choice. It brings together some of the top researchers in the field, presenting a comprehensive overview of the best current knowledge of these important policies.The questions addressed in Exploring the School Choice Universe are of most importance to researchers and policy makers. What do choice programs actually do? What forms do they take? Who participates, and why? What are the funding implications? What are the results of different forms of school choice on outcomes that matter, like student performance, segregation, and competition effects? Do they affect teachers’ working conditions? Do they drive innovation?The contents of this book offer reason to believe that choice policies can further some educational goals. But they also suggest many reasons for caution. If choice policies are to be evidence-based, a re-examination is in order. The information, insights and recommendations facilitate a more nuanced understanding of school choice and provide the basis for designing sensible school choice reforms that can pursue a range of desirable outcomes.

Soulevant le paradoxe de l'obligation de l'education civique des enfants et de l'apprentissage des valeurs fondamentales du liberalisme telle que l'autonomie de l'individu, l'A. montre que la permissibilite de l'education civique pose probleme, tant du point de vue de l'autorite de l'ecole en matiere d'enseignement et de l'autorite des parents en matiere d'education, que du point de vue de la legitimite de l'etat liberal au regard du consentement hypothetique des citoyens. Examinant les arguments en faveur de l'education civique developpes par W. Galston et A. Gutmann, ainsi que l'argument instrumental en faveur de l'education falicitant l'autonomie, l'A. montre que le debat souleve la question de la place de la famille religieuse de l'enfant et la question des programmes scolaires dans le cadre limite de la doctrine liberale

This study assesses how increases in charter schooling and inter-district school choice relate to teacher characteristics and turnover using seven years (2012-13 to 2018-19) of student- and teacher-level data from the U.S. state of Michigan. It tests whether these relationships differ by sector (traditional public or charter) or by the extent to which collective bargaining agreements restrict personnel policies and decision making. Results indicate that growth in school choice is associated with primarily positive changes (e.g., an increase in teacher experience and education levels), occurring primarily in charter schools, with limited changes in the TPS teacher workforce, suggesting institutional isomorphism.

This chapter focuses on the philosophical questions and tensions involved in the phenomenon of charter schools (United States), free schools (United Kingdom), and similar schools that give students and parents greater choice within public school systems. After a brief review of these reforms and their shared rationales, I focus on the philosophical questions about the purposes, aims, and values raised by autonomous schools of choice. This chapter reviews these philosophical questions along two broad dimensions: (1) rights, pluralism, and autonomy and (2) democracy, justice, and equity. I conclude by sketching out implications of these philosophical questions for choice policy and practice and some recommendations for employing philosophical frameworks in the analysis of these policies.

What impact have Minnesota's public school choice options had on the state's education system overall? Mr. Nathan and Mr. Boyd report on some unanticipated positive results, some negative predictions that did not come to pass, and a few unfortunate instances that underscore the need for careful monitoring of the programs and the schools participating in them. THE SUPREME Court's voucher decision in July 2002 adds to the importance of understanding the promise and challenges of school choice within the public school system.1 An analysis of Minnesota's experience with school choice programs between 1985 and 2002, conducted by researchers at Penn State University and the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute, shows that school choice programs can be valuable and can help to stimulate improvement in the broader system. But the research we conducted also makes clear that any school choice plan needs to be carefully monitored and that participating schools should be reviewed regularly.2 Data for this project were gathered in several ways. More than 2,000 students were surveyed, including students who took advantage of the state's Post-Secondary Enrollment Options law and students at six representative alternative schools in rural, urban, and suburban areas. More than 50 individuals, including representatives of key state education, community, and business organizations, were also interviewed. An extensive research and literature review was carried out, and, in cooperation with Minnesota's Department of Children, Families, and Learning (the state education department), information was gathered and analyzed from previously unpublished state records. A Brief Overview of Minnesota's School Choice Laws Minnesota began passing public school choice legislation in 1985 and has enacted four major programs. * Postsecondary options (1985). This program allows high school juniors and seniors to attend a college or university full or part time, with state funds following the students to pay tuition and lab and book fees. Any student admitted by a college or university is eligible, and the decision to apply is left to the student. * Second-chance options (1987). This program allows 12- to 21-year-old students who have not succeeded in traditional schools, according to a variety of measures, to attend smaller alternative schools created by a district, a group of districts, or a private organization that can convince a district to give it a contract. * Open (1988). This program allows K-12 students to move across district lines as long as the receiving district has room and the movement does not harm desegregation efforts. * Charter schools (1991). This program allows educators to create new schools or convert existing public or private nonsectarian schools into public charter schools with no admissions tests. The schools are responsible for improving achievement, or they are closed. These schools must be authorized or sponsored by one of several groups, including local districts, postsecondary institutions, or nonprofit organizations with at least $1 million in assets. Who Participates in School Choice? A great deal of discussion has taken place about enrollment and charter schools. But our research demonstrated that the largest school choice programs in Minnesota -- by far -- were those authorized by the 1987 law allowing students who had not succeeded in traditional school settings to attend a different, often much smaller, alternative school. This program is also the fastest growing. According to state figures, the number of students participating in second-chance programs grew from 4,050 in 1988-89 to more than 100,000 in 2000-01. Meanwhile, participation in the open program grew from 140 in 1988 to just over 28,000 in 2000-01. From 1988 to 2000, overall K-12 grew 17%, but the number of students participating in one of the four statewide choice programs grew more than 1,300%. …

School choice has emerged as the linchpin of President Trump’s urban education reform plan, but it remains unclear how school choice policies will shape the educational experiences of the most underserved student groups, particularly English learners (ELs). Using quantitative data from one large urban school district, we examine EL participation in a system of school choice. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which never, current, and former ELs enroll in a nonzoned school. We find significant differences in the likelihood that students across these groups engage in school choice, raising important questions about whether school choice reforms are accessible to current ELs.

This paper evaluates the effects of a major Swedish school choice reform. The reform in 1992 increased school choice and competition among public schools as well as through a large-scale introduction of private schools. We estimate the effects of school choice and competition, using precise geographical information on the locations of school buildings and children’s homes for the entire Swedish population for several cohorts affected at different stages in their educational career. We can measure the long-term effects up to age 25. We find that increased school choice had very small, but positive, effects on marks at the end of compulsory schooling, but virtually zero effects on longer term outcomes such as university education, employment, criminal activity and health.

This paper evaluates the effects of a major Swedish school choice reform. The reform in 1992 increased school choice and competition among public schools as well as through a large-scale introduction of private schools. We estimate the effects of school choice and competition, using precise geographical information on the locations of school buildings and children’s homes for the entire Swedish population for several cohorts affected at different stages in their educational career. We can measure the long-term effects up to age 25. We find that increased school choice had very small, but positive, effects on marks at the end of compulsory schooling, but virtually zero effects on longer term outcomes such as university education, employment, criminal activity and health.

Mapping Educational Opportunity: Spatial Analysis and School Choices

This article investigates why school choice is exercised to a limited degree by parents despite major government initiatives to enhance diversity, competition and choice in the Danish education system. Denmark has had 20 years of centre‐right governments, promoting choice reforms perhaps even more vigorously than the other Nordic countries, yet school choice is seldom used – only 12% of parents choose a public school that differs from the one that is allocated to them. The literature on school choice in Denmark argues that this is primarily due to a general lack of parental interest because of the relatively high similarity across schools. In this article, we argue that the main reason is to be found in the politics of vested interests, namely municipalities’ persistent use of pupil assignment schemes supported by powerful teacher union branches at the local level.

School choice reform refers to changes that allow parents greater freedom to choose schools for their children. School choice reform is contentious because it fundamentally alters the environment in which public and private schools operate and could result in significant changes for both demanders and suppliers of education. This article develops a model of public education with imperfect exit to predict how private school enrollment influences performance of public schools. Empirical evidence from data on all private and public schools in California provides substantial support for the hypothesis that public school test scores are inversely related to private school enrollments and charter school enrollments when private and charter schooling reflects exiting by parents unhappy with local public schools. Implications regarding how expanded private school choice might influence public school performance in California and elsewhere are discussed.

Economics provides reasons for both optimism and caution with school choice reform. Basic economic theory suggests that subjecting schools to market pressure in the form of parents making educational choices for their children has the potential to provide efficient matches between what parents want and what schools provide. At the same time, economics warns of the destructive effects of market failures, and markets for schools exhibit many of these failures. Moreover, even if school choice markets efficiently match students with schools, they might not create matches that people find fair or equitable. This chapter examines school choice reforms from the perspective of economics. In doing so, it argues that how policymakers navigate questions about the three interrelated principles at the core of school choice reforms—choice, autonomy, and accountability—can define the ultimate success or failure of those reforms.

The 1990s witnessed growing attention to the adoption of choice‐based school reforms, particularly charter schooling and school vouchers. Although researchers have approached the school choice debate from theoretical, normative, and empirical directions, little attention has been paid to examining how teachers view school choice or what factors shape their attitudes. This oversight is significant because teachers can impact the success of school choice experiments in many ways, such as through their willingness to launch and staff schools of choice, adopt new practices developed in schools of choice, and support choice‐based reform efforts in their unions and communities. Using a survey of Arizona and Nevada teachers, we find that White, experienced, unionized, Democratic educators and those working in a “positive” school environment are less supportive of school choice. Arizona teachers, who live in close approximation of a free market for education, are particularly hostile to choice, but teachers who have had personal contact with a charter school are more supportive. The results indicate that the success of school choice will likely be influenced by the characteristics of the teacher workforce and teachers’ familiarity with competition.

This book argues that the autonomy granted to choice schools has been a counterproductive dead end. Its authors see no proof that freedom has produced the outstanding results that charter school advocates promised. Nor has the competition from charter schools spurred the improvement in public schools that charter advocates predicted. Instead, charter schools and education vouchers promoted competition among schools that should be cooperating. Overburdened public school districts are faced with rivalry from schools that are merely duplicating conventional programs and competing for some students while ignoring others. Since choice schools are not meeting the expectations touted by their advocates, the authors maintain that they should be planned, monitored, and operated by school districts. The federal government is devoting millions of dollars to charter and voucher programs that currently require parents to abandon regular public schools. The goal of the authors ofThe School Choice Hoaxis to expose the misleading hyperbole that has been driving the school choice movement and to show how charter schools can become more effective and useful to public school districts. Both authors have been following the school choice movement for over a decade. Together they bring to the topic an unusual blend of academic and practical knowledge derived from long, successful careers as a sociologist (Corwin) and former Deputy Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators (Schneider). The authors have formed their conclusions from years of research and analysis and have devoted a great deal of attention to making sensible recommendations designed to make school choice models more useful to public schools. This book will be helpful to parents who are faced with the prospect of making choice work better. The authors' conclusions have been carefully drawn from, and documented with, current research derived from years of neutral observation. Throughout, the book is packed with observations about school choice that will inform parents, politicians, and other community members about the advantages and disadvantages of choice schools. The authors offer explanations that will help the average citizen understand and appraise overblown claims by advocates. They also provide detailed reviews of other reforms, some of which are already infused in existing choice models.