The Political Economy of D.C. School Choice

The Political Economy of D.C. School Choice PDF Author: Allison Kasic
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational evaluation
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
Economic theory gives us many reasons to think that school choice programs would address several problems plaguing our nation's public school system. This thesis examines one attempt to implement that theory, Washington, D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), to see how the positive predictions of school choice theory play out or do not play out in practice. The economic case for school choice rests on three related factors: knowledge, incentives, and competition. School choice should allow for better school-child matches than geographically-assigned government-run public schools, as parents are able to act on the intimate knowledge they have of their child's educational needs. School choice should also incentivize parents to be more informed educational consumers and incentivize schools to improve their services in an effort to attract or retain voucher students. This would lead to a more competitive educational market, ripe with innovation and, ultimately, improved student performance. OSP was successful in some of these areas and not in others. Evidence from OSP suggests that at least some students benefited as a result of participating in the program, either by improved standardized test scores in reading and/or by higher graduation rates. There is no evidence that any participants were worse off for having participated in the program. Further, most participants were highly satisfied with their experience in the program on a wide variety of margins including safety and school quality. The program was less successful in sparking widespread competition amongst schools, though some public and private school principals did report making changes in hopes of either retaining or attracting OSP students. The program features and institutional constraints of OSP were key in shaping these outcomes. The wide range of options available to OSP students allowed for the increased possibility of finding good school-child matches, though this was harder to achieve at the high school level where fewer options were available. Also key to finding good school-child matches was the wide range of information available to parents, including formal guides to personal connections. Evidence suggests that parents acted as informed consumers, examining substantive school qualities over superficial attributes, when choosing a school. They also improved as educational consumers over time, as school choice provided the incentive for them to be more involved in the educational process. A key factor in OSP's inability to affect system-wide change in D.C. schools is likely the program's funding structure, which did not provide a financial punishment for public schools that lost students to OSP. If policymakers wish to improve the performance of school choice programs in the future, it is these program features that they should address.

The Political Economy of D.C. School Choice

The Political Economy of D.C. School Choice PDF Author: Allison Kasic
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational evaluation
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Get Book Here

Book Description
Economic theory gives us many reasons to think that school choice programs would address several problems plaguing our nation's public school system. This thesis examines one attempt to implement that theory, Washington, D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), to see how the positive predictions of school choice theory play out or do not play out in practice. The economic case for school choice rests on three related factors: knowledge, incentives, and competition. School choice should allow for better school-child matches than geographically-assigned government-run public schools, as parents are able to act on the intimate knowledge they have of their child's educational needs. School choice should also incentivize parents to be more informed educational consumers and incentivize schools to improve their services in an effort to attract or retain voucher students. This would lead to a more competitive educational market, ripe with innovation and, ultimately, improved student performance. OSP was successful in some of these areas and not in others. Evidence from OSP suggests that at least some students benefited as a result of participating in the program, either by improved standardized test scores in reading and/or by higher graduation rates. There is no evidence that any participants were worse off for having participated in the program. Further, most participants were highly satisfied with their experience in the program on a wide variety of margins including safety and school quality. The program was less successful in sparking widespread competition amongst schools, though some public and private school principals did report making changes in hopes of either retaining or attracting OSP students. The program features and institutional constraints of OSP were key in shaping these outcomes. The wide range of options available to OSP students allowed for the increased possibility of finding good school-child matches, though this was harder to achieve at the high school level where fewer options were available. Also key to finding good school-child matches was the wide range of information available to parents, including formal guides to personal connections. Evidence suggests that parents acted as informed consumers, examining substantive school qualities over superficial attributes, when choosing a school. They also improved as educational consumers over time, as school choice provided the incentive for them to be more involved in the educational process. A key factor in OSP's inability to affect system-wide change in D.C. schools is likely the program's funding structure, which did not provide a financial punishment for public schools that lost students to OSP. If policymakers wish to improve the performance of school choice programs in the future, it is these program features that they should address.

School Choice

School Choice PDF Author: Virginia Walden Ford
Publisher: Beaufort Books
ISBN: 0825308216
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Winner of the 2020 Silver Nautilus Book Award On a cold winter night in February of 1967, a large rock shattered a bedroom window in Virginia Walden Ford's home in Little Rock, Arkansas, landing in her baby sister's crib. Outside, members of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on her family's lawn. Faceless bigots were terrorizing Virginia, her parents, and her sisters–all because her father, Harry Fowler, dared to take a job as the assistant superintendent of personnel for the Little Rock School District. He was more than qualified, but he was black. In her searing new memoir, legendary school choice advocate Virginia Walden Ford recounts the lessons she learned as a child in the segregated south. She drew on those experiences—and the legacies handed to her by her parents and ancestors—thirty years later, when she built an army of parents to fight for school choice in our nation's capital. School Choice: A Legacy to Keep, tells the dramatic true story of how poor D.C. parents, with the support of unlikely allies, faced off against some of America's most prominent politicians—and won a better future for children.

The School Choice Roadmap

The School Choice Roadmap PDF Author: Andrew Campanella
Publisher: Beaufort Books
ISBN: 0825308151
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
WINNER OF THE 2020 FOREWORD INDIES GOLD AWARD IN EDUCATION WINNER OF THE SILVER IPPY AWARD FOR BEST EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES You want your children to benefit from a great education. But every student is unique. One type of school might be a great fit for your neighbor's child, but it might not work for your son or daughter. Across the country, many parents today have more choices for their children's education than ever before. If you are starting the process of finding your child's first school—or if you want to choose a new learning environment—The School Choice Roadmap is for you. This first-of-its-kind book offers a practical, jargon-free overview of school choice policies, from public school open enrollment to private school scholarships and more. It breaks down the similarities and differences between traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online public schools, private schools, and homeschooling. Most importantly, The School Choice Roadmap offers a seven-step process that will help you harness the power of your own intuition—and your own expertise about your child's uniqueness—to help you find a school that reflects your family's goals, values, and priorities. Filled with sage advice from dozens of other parents who have pursued the school search process, and interviews with school leaders and teachers, The School Choice Roadmap is an optimistic, empowering book that cuts through the confusion in K-12 education—so that you can give your children every opportunity to succeed in school and in life.

School Choice in Washington, D.C.

School Choice in Washington, D.C. PDF Author: Patrick J. Wolf
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education and state
Languages : en
Pages : 71

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Book Description


Exploring the School Choice Universe

Exploring the School Choice Universe PDF Author: Kevin G. Welner
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1623960452
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
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.

The School Choice Journey

The School Choice Journey PDF Author: T. Stewart
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137442662
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
This in-depth chronicle of 110 families in Washington, DC's Opportunity Scholarship Program provides a realistic look at how urban families experience the process of using school choice vouchers and transform from government clients to consumers of education and active citizens.

The Economics of School Choice

The Economics of School Choice PDF Author: Caroline M. Hoxby
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226355349
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs constitutional, the many unanswered questions concerning the potential effects of school choice will become especially pressing. Contributors to this volume draw on state-of-the-art economic methods to answer some of these questions, investigating the ways in which school choice affects a wide range of issues. Combining the results of empirical research with analyses of the basic economic forces underlying local education markets, The Economics of School Choice presents evidence concerning the impact of school choice on student achievement, school productivity, teachers, and special education. It also tackles difficult questions such as whether school choice affects where people decide to live and how choice can be integrated into a system of school financing that gives children from different backgrounds equal access to resources. Contributors discuss the latest findings on Florida's school choice program as well as voucher programs and charter schools in several other states. The resulting volume not only reveals the promise of school choice, but examines its pitfalls as well, showing how programs can be designed that exploit the idea's potential but avoid its worst effects. With school choice programs gradually becoming both more possible and more popular, this book stands out as an essential exploration of the effects such programs will have, and a necessary resource for anyone interested in the idea of school choice.

Falling in Love with America Again

Falling in Love with America Again PDF Author: Senator Jim DeMint
Publisher: Center Street
ISBN: 1455549819
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 203

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Book Description
Serving within the supposed pinnacles of power as a respected and influential U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Jim DeMint often felt frustrated and powerless to fight against the frightening growth of the federal bureaucracy and refute the mistaken idea that ever-bigger government is the solution to the nation's problems. In his new role as president and CEO of The Heritage Foundation, Jim DeMint has taken on the daunting responsibility of helping to lead Americans themselves to change their country's course, of redirecting us back to our founding principles and restoring and protecting our economy and culture for future generations. He realized that he - and all of us as fellow citizens - must fall in love with America - again. In this book, DeMint illustrates why Americans must rediscover the power, ingenuity and creativity of our little platoons. He then introduces Americans all across the country whose patriotism was nurtured in exactly the same way, recounting example after example of how they're working together locally in what he calls the "little platoons" - the families, churches, communities and voluntary organizations succeeding on the model that smaller is better. They are the hands-on citizens who make America the exceptional, caring and can-do country it has always been. DeMint illustrates why each of us - regardless of political party, age, race, religion or ethnicity - must rediscover the power we represent. The country's future is at risk, not just because of constant pressure from "the Bigs" (big government, big banks, big labor, big Wall Street cronies etc.), but because so many of us fear it's too late to solve problems so huge and seemingly intractable. Jim DeMint is here to reassure us that this is not true. In riveting yet plainspoken style, he tells real-life success stories and educates us via logical, historical and fact-based explanations of the issues (education, taxation, regulation, poverty, labor, health-care, environmentalism, Federalism and more). He affirms the compelling truth that conservative ideas are really American ideas, and they must guide us as we turn our institutions upside-down, taking them from the top-down centrally-controlled bureaucracies they've become back to the bottom-up democratic framework the Constitution intended. Through this heartfelt, fascinating and inspiring look inside the America of both yesterday and today, and the everyday citizens who are working tirelessly and selflessly to insure its future fulfills the promise of its beginnings, Jim DeMint is beckoning us to join him on one of the most meaningful and momentous journeys we have ever undertaken together: FALLING IN LOVE WITH AMERICA AGAIN.

Charter School Entry and School Choice

Charter School Entry and School Choice PDF Author: Maria Marta Ferreyra
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Charter schools
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
This paper develops and estimates an equilibrium model of charter school entry and school choice. In the model, households choose among public, private, and charter schools, and a regulator authorizes charter entry and mandates charter exit. The model is estimated for Washington, D.C. According to the estimates, charters generate net social gains by providing additional school options, and they benefit non-white, low-income, and middle-school students the most. Further, policies that raise the supply of prospective charter entrants in combination with high authorization standards enhance social welfare.

The School Choice Wars

The School Choice Wars PDF Author: John D. Merrifield
Publisher: R&L Education
ISBN: 1461700574
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
What does the term 'school choice' mean to you? Opponents of parental choice have muddied its definition, misleading parents and educators and drawing public debate away from the core issues. In a book geared for anyone who wants to better understand this hotly contested topic, Merrifield clarifies the proposals in existence today, defining the key concepts related to choice. Arguing for a competitive education industry, he discusses policy and political strategy mistakes while suggesting corrections. This informative book covers government regulation issues, typical fallacies, diversity issues, private voucher initiatives, and experiments and empirical evidence about competition.