ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Scholarly and In-Depth Studies > School Choice

Private Scholarship Programs: A Matter of Priority
Source: The Center for Education Reform
Country: United States

While politicians debate school vouchers and tax credits, private groups are moving forward with scholarship programs that offer families alternatives to the public school system.

The case for school choice
Source: Mackinac Center
Author: Matthew J. Brouillette
Country: United States

America’s history of freedom points the way to the future of education reform -- greater school choice for all parents. (2/07/01)

An analysis of public-private school choice in Texas
Source: Texas Public Policy Foundation
State: TX, Country: United States

Surveys the school choice landscape in Texas, proposes criteria for evaluating the success of school choice, and concludes that "limitations on existing private school capacity and the time required for this capacity to expand will cause the effects of choice to be gradual."

Reclaiming our schools: Increasing parental control of education through the universal education credit
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Darcy Ann Olsen and Matthew J. Brouillette
Country: United States

This study examines the universal education credit which would let "parents deduct a portion of schooling costs from their state tax bill." It is available in Adobe PDF. (12/6/00)

School choice vs. school choice
Source: NCPA
Author: John C. Goodman and Matt Moore
Country: United States

"This paper makes the case for replacing our existing school choice system with one that is better, one that creates a level playing field on which schools compete for students, and students and their parents exercise their own choices." (04/27/01)

The Impact of School Choice on School Employee Unions
Source: Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Author: Matthew J. Broullette and Jeffrey R. Williams
Country: United States

Union officials are willing to spend millions of dollars to prevent parents from choosing the best schools for their children. Why? Because expanded school choice may reduce their organizations' income and political power. Adobe PDF. (6/99)

The universal tuition tax credit
Source: Virginia Institute for Public Policy
Author: Carlisle E. Moody, Jerry Ellig
Country: United States

Achieving excellence in education without a tax increase. Although the authors' tax credit proposal is outlined with Virginia in mind, their discussion has relevance to parents throughout the country. (2000)

How the Private Sector Serves Difficult-to-Educate Children
Source: Reason Foundation
Author: Janet R. Beales
Country: United States

The private sector is effective at educating those difficult-to-educate children that the public schools cannot handle. Case studies illustrate the point. See also 21744b.pdf, 21744c.pdf, 21744d.pdf, 21744e.pdf, 21744f.pdf, 21744g.pdf. Adobe PDF. (8/96)

Making school choice work for all families
Source: Pacific Research Institute
Country: United States

Properly implemented, school choice plans promise to make good-quality education available to all children.

Vouchers and Educational Freedom: A Debate
Source: Cato Institute
Country: United States

Would school vouchers offer families greater choice or enmesh private education in government regulation? This study gives both sides their say.

Only freedom of education can solve America's bureaucratic crisis of education
Source: Cato Institute
Country: United States

Americans have been trading a birthright of flexible, independent learning for centralized, bureacratized schooling.

A study of racial integration in public and private school lunchrooms
Source: School Choices
Country: United States

This study suggests that private schools tend to offer a more racially integrated environment than do public schools.

Education Freedom Index
Source: Manhattan Institute
Author: Jay P. Greene
Country: United States

Measures which states have more educational freedom and compares academic achievement among them. Concludes that "Freedom matters in education. Simply providing families with additional options...has a larger independent effect on student achievement than increasing education spending or reducing class size." (9/00)

The Effects of Catholic Secondary Schooling on Educational Achievement
Source: Journal of Labor Economics
Author: Derek Neal
Country: United States

Catholic schooling dramatically increases educational achievement among minorities in urban areas even after allegedly tighter admission criteria have been taken into account. Adobe PDF. (1997)

12-hour school days?: why government should leave afterschool arrangements to parents
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Darcy Olsen
Country: United States

Instead of nationalizing afterschool programs, the federal government should "give parents full latitude to select their children’s schools, including independent schools, with or without afterschool programs." This report examines the tuition tax credit solution. It is available in Adobe PDF. (6/7/00)

Toward market education: are vouchers or tax credits the better path?
Source: Cato Institute/Policy Analysis
Author: Andrew J. Coulson
Country: United States

Compares voucher and tax-credit programs on the basis of how well they manifest the necessary conditions for market education and the extent to which they allow all families to participate in that market; and concludes that tax credits are the better alternative. (PDF file requires free Acrobat reader software.) (02/23/01)

The 30th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools
Source: Phi Delta Kappa
Author: Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup
Country: United States

Approximately equal numbers of respondents favor and oppose public support of private schools -- guaranteeing continued strife over vouchers and tax credits. See also 21503b.pdf, 21503c.pdf, 21503d.pdf, 21503e.pdf, 21503f.pdf, 21503g.pdf, 21503h.pdf, 21503i.pdf, 21503j.pdf, 21503l.pdf, 21503m.pdf. Adobe pdf. (1998)

Private School Vouchers and Student Achievement: An Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program
Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
Author: Cecilia Elena Rouse
Country: United States

An assistant professor of economics at Princeton University and research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research finds "quite large" gains in math scores. Adobe PDF. (12/96)

Better by Design: A Consumer's Guide to Schoolwide Reform
Source: The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
Author: James Traub
Country: United States

Discusses ten different approaches to school reform. (12/99)

The Role of Government in Education
Source: School Choices
Author: Milton Friedman
Country: United States

The famous 1955 essay by Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman in which he suggests the use of education vouchers "redeemable for a specified maximum sum per child per year if spent on 'approved' educational services."

Yes, vouchers are constitutional
Source: City Journal
Author: Richard E. Morgan
Country: United States

Morgan reviews constitutional history to conclude that there is no foundation for the claim that the founding fathers intended to build a "wall of separation" between church and state. (Fall 1998.)

School choice and American constitutionalism
Source: Harvard Program on Education and Governance
Country: United States

Assessing whether a government program meets standards of constitutionality. Adobe PDF See also 21845j.pdf. (3/00)

A survey of results from voucher experiments
Source: The Manhattan Institute
Author: J.P. Greene
Country: United States

Where we are and what we know after several years of experience with vouchers. Adobe PDF. (3/2000)

Survey Shows School Choice Would Prevent Middle-Class Flight from Baltimore
Source: Calvert Institute for Policy Research
Author: Douglas P. Munro Ph.D.
City: Baltimore, State: MD, Country: United States

Results of a Calvert survey showing the potential of vouchers to prevent the flight of middle-income families from the city. See also 21194h.pdf, 21194i.pdf, 21194j.pdf, 21194k.pdf Adobe PDF. (8/97)

The Threat to Independent Education: Public Subsidies and Private Colleges
Source: Cato Institute Policy Analysis
Author: Gary Wolfram
Country: United States

In 1900, 4 of 5 college students were enrolled in private rather than public institutions of higher learning. Today the proportion is reversed. Public institutions have weakened private colleges by charging below-market tuition rates. Governments should stop subsidizing public colleges. See also 21324p.pdf, 21324q.pdf. Adobe PDF. (8/97)

The Three Ps of American Education: Performance Productivity Privatization
Source: Center for the Study of American Business
Author: Richard Vedder
Country: United States

Public schools are doing less with more and private schools are doing more with less. Perhaps the best way to bring the private school model to public schools would be to explore privatization. See also 21004l.pdf. Adobe PDF. (10/96)

Just Doing It 4: 1998 Annual Survey Of The Private Voucher Movement in America
Source: Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation of America
Country: United States

In 1998 a total of 34 privately financed voucher programs were in operation with 12,684 students participating. Growth is modest from year to year but still impressive. See also 21854m.pdf. Adobe PDF. (1999)

Employer Roles in Linking School and Work: Four Urban Lessons
Source: Committee for Economic Development
Author: Basil J. Whiting and Richard Kazis
Country: United States

Case studies from Boston, Fort Worth, Louisville and Philadelphia show that employers can have a large positive effect on public school reform efforts. They have a vested interest in the outcome of the reforms and can give work experience to students. Adobe PDF. (1998)

Marshall Fritz and school choice
Source: Los Angeles Mission
Country: United States

Marshall Fritz of the Separation of School and State Alliance explains his views for the readership of a Catholic newspaper. (9/12/00)

Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on Public Schools and School Choice
Source: Phi Delta Kappa International
Author: Lowell C. Rose and Alec M. Gallup
Country: United States

Extensive polling data about parental attitudes toward the public schools and how to improve them, and private alternatives. (1999)

A Hunger for Reform: Public Attitudes about Public Schools and How To Fix Them
Source: Penn, Schoen and Berland
Author: Mark J. Penn
Country: United States

A national poll reveals that Americans think the public schools are in crisis. "Americans support a variety of innovative approaches to improving education." For the complete document, see also 21504i.pdf.

Educational choice design guidelines
Source: Heartland Institute
Author: Joseph Bast and Robert Whittmann
Country: United States

The practical aspects of designing fair and efficient choice programs. This document is the first of three parts; see also 21845p.pdf and 21845q.pdf (1991)

School Choice 2000 Annual Report
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Nina Shokrail Rees
Country: United States

Though still in its infancy, the body of research on school choice is beginning to show strong evidence that choice works. (3/29/00)

Who benefits from expanded educational savings accounts: analysis by congressional district
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Rea S. Hederman Jr.
Country: United States

Click on your state in a U.S. map to learn the number of children in your region for whom educational savings accounts could be created if current legislation passes.

School vouchers: A report from the western front
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Gov. Gary E. Johnson
Country: United States

The governor of New Mexico says every kid should have a voucher. "We're dealing with a monopoly and our goal here is to give our kids a better chance to succeed." (4/7/00)

The Grand Finale is Just the Beginning: School Choice and the Coming Battle Over Blaine Amendments
Source: The Federalist Society
Author: Eric W. Treene
Country: United States

"If June brings good news from the Supreme Court, celebration is undoubtedly in order. But supporters of school choice must not believe we have moved on from the endless court battles and that the choice issue may join the educational reform dialogue on an equal footing with other proposals." (03/22/02)

Toward market education: Are vouchers or tax credits the better path?
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Andrew J. Coulson
Country: United States

"This paper compares voucher and tax-credit programs on the basis of how well they manifest the necessary conditions for market education and the extent to which they allow all families to participate in that market." It is available in Adobe PDF. (02/22/01)

$500 federal education tax credit could help millions
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Darcy Ann Olsen, Carrie Lips, and Dan Lips
Country: United States

"[T]he parental choice and scholarship credits [currently under consideration] would enable roughly 2.3 million new students to attend a school of their parents' choice at a savings across the states of $14 billion." This report is available in Adobe PDF. (05/01/01)

Vouchers and educational freedom: a debate
Source: Cato Institute
Author: Joseph L. Bast, David Harmer, Douglas Dewey
Country: United States

Advocates of educational freedom disagree about whether school vouchers would liberate schools and families and lead to greater freedom of choice or trap private schools in a web of subsidy and regulation that would destroy their independence and quality. The two sides square off in this study. (3/12/97)

Howard Fuller on the black American struggle to gain real educational choice
Source: The Center for Education Reform
Country: United States

"I think I know what's best for my children. Yes, I do," says one parental advocate of school choice. "This is a debate about power," writes Fuller. "This is about whether parents of low-income African American children should obtain a power that many critics of the choice movement exercise every day on behalf of their own children."

The school-choice choices
Source: Independent Review
Author: John D. Merrifield
Country: United States

School-choice advocates usually speak of public-school choice (open enrollment among public schools) and private-school choice (taxpayers subsidizing private-school tuition). Yet two other alternatives hold even greater promise for improving education: child-centered funding and outright (consumer-funded) privatization. (PDF format.) (Fall 2000)

School choice in the courts
Source: NCPA
Country: United States

Recent court decisions suggest that the Supreme Court is likely to uphold the constitutionality of school voucher programs. (8/7/00)

The economics of school choice
Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
Author: Carolyn Hoxby, editor
Country: United States

Links to papers presented at a February 2001 conference, formatted for Adobe Acrobat Reader, on topics like "Does Public School Competition Effect Teacher Quality?", "School Vouchers: Results from Randomized Experiments," and others. The papers will eventually be included in a conference volume published by The University of Chicago Press. (02/01)

The effect of school choice: An evaluation of the Charlotte Children's Scholarship Fund
Source: Manhattan Institute
Author: Jay P. Greene
Country: United States

The evidence from the Children’s Scholarship Fund (CSF) program in Charlotte suggests that providing low-income families with scholarships with which they can select a private school has significant benefits for those families. (8/00)

Lessons from Florida: School choice gives increased opportunities to children with special needs
Source: Cato Institute
Author: David F. Salisbury
State: FL, Country: United States

Analysis of Florida's McKay Scholarship program for students with disabilities shows that school choice doesn't leave disabled students behind, as many educators claim. (PDF file) (3/20/03)

More than grades: how choice boosts parental involvement and benefits children
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Philip Vassallo
Country: United States

Although a universal, customer-driven system has not been tried, sufficient research exists to prove that modified forms of choice--such as charter schools, vouchers, and private scholarship programs--increase parental involvement, which is a strong predictor of student achievement. (Adobe PDF.) (10/26/00)

No voice, no exit:The inefficiency of America's public schools
Source: Institute for Policy Innovation
Author: Robert Franciosi
Country: United States

"This report [shows] that the flow of resources into America's public schools has kept ahead of inflation and the number of students and that America leads the world in the amount of money it spends per pupil. Yet this tremendous effort has not been matched by gains in achievement." (07/01)

School vouchers as a legal sanction
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Lisa Snell
Country: United States

"This paper will examine the tension between programs that use [school] vouchers as a legal sanction versus the traditional concept of vouchers as a way to empower parents with more educational choices for their children." (07/01)

Who wants private schools?
Source: Hoover Institution/Education Matters
Author: Terry Moe
Country: United States

At the heart of the voucher debate is a controversy over the numbers and types of parents who want to go private, what motivates them, and what a shift of parents from public to private would mean for the larger society. (Spring 2001)

On thin ice: the public's views on school choice
Source: Public Agenda Online
Country: United States

Outline of education survey findings showing that most of the public knows little about school choice alternatives like vouchers and charter schools, but tend to react favorably when they do learn about them. (The full survey must be purchased.) (1999)

The surprising consensus on school choice
Source: Public Interest
Author: Jay P. Greene
Country: United States

"What is striking about the recent research on school choice is not just its quality but that it consistently reveals positive benefits from school choice. Of course, groups with vested interests in the results, such as the teachers' unions and their allies, always prefer to describe the results as mixed or inconclusive at best." (Summer 2001)

School vouchers as a legal sanction
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Lisa Snell
Country: United States

"The research justifies the use of school vouchers as a legal sanction by state governments and the federal government to force public schools to raise student achievement or lose students and funding." This report is available in Adobe PDF. (07/01)

Education tax credit to help millions, save billions
Source: Cato Institute
Author: Darcy Ann Olsen, Carrie Lips, and Dan Lips
Country: United States

By reducing the cost of private schooling, a federal education tax credit would encourage some parents to transfer their children from public to private schools. As students transfer, state governments have fewer pupils to educate and can reduce expenditures accordingly. (05/01/01)

How can we fix our public schools? By making them private
Source: Hoover Digest
Author: Milton Friedman
Country: United States
E-mail: hoover@free-market.net

"The widening gap between the cognitive elite and unskilled workers is threatening to transform America, in effect dividing the Republic into two nations, one in the first world, the other in the third. How can we prevent such a division? Only by providing good schools for all our children -- which in turn means making our public schools private. Milton Friedman explains." (Spring, 2001)

School choice: the evidence comes in
Source: Hoover Digest
Author: Hanna Skandera & Richard Sousa
Country: United States
E-mail: hoover@free-market.net

"Critics of school choice have long asserted that it would lead the best and brightest students to desert public schools, confronting such schools with an even worse crisis than the one they already face. Milwaukee has had a voucher program for 10 years. The result? Milwaukee’s test scores are up -- way up." (Spring, 2001)

Education Management Organizations: Growing a for-profit education industry with choice, competition, and innovation
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Guilbert C. Hentschke, Scot Oschman, and Lisa Snell
Country: United States

This report examines Education Management Organizatons and concludes that they are "an innovative management tool that school administrators can use to raise student achievement." Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed. (05/02)

Do school vouchers improve student performance?
Source: The American Prospect
Author: Martin Carnoy
Country: United States

A skeptical look at studies on the effects of education vouchers in Milwaukee and elsewhere. (January 01-15, 2001)

The surprising consensus on school choice
Source: The Public Interest
Author: Jay P. Greene
Country: United States

"If the evidence we have so far is any indication, future studies will only confirm what we are already beginning to suspect: school choice works. Eventually, the weight of this evidence will make it hard to ignore or disparage." (Summer 2001)

Public schools, homeschools, and private schools
Source: Education News
Author: Virginia Birt Baker
Country: United States

"Would you continue promoting vouchers if you knew that federal laws and Supreme Court opinions are already in place to enable government to control private schools once they participate in anything that includes federal funding?" (05/01)

Get ready for the new age of individualized education
Source: Reason
Author: Daniel H. Pink
Country: United States

In the years to come, traditional schools are likely to become obsolete, replaced by options that cater to individual needs and tastes. (10/01/01)

School choice basics
Source: Cascade Policy Institute
Country: United States

An overview of education reform approaches and introduction to policies that empouer parents to select the best schools for their children. (1/31/02)

School choice in Dayton, Ohio after two years
Source: Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance
Author: Martin R. West
Country: United States

An evaluation of the Parents Advancing Choice in Education scholarship program. (08/01)

School choice roundup
Source: Heartland Institute
Author: George A. Clowes
Country: United States

Summary of school choice news in 15 states.

IJ U.S. Supreme Court brief available
Source: Institute for Justice
Country: United States

The Institute for Justice, which has defended school choice cases around the nation, has made available its 63 page brief on the merits of the Ohio school choice case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with other materials on school choice legislation, it is available in Adobe PDF.

The Arizona scholarship tax credit: A model for federal reform
Source: The Goldwater Institute
Author: Dan Lips
Country: United States

Executive summary of a report holding Arizona's dollar-for-dollar tax credit program as a model for federal reform. (Full report available in PDF format.) (08/01/02)

School choice raises student achievement
Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
Author: Caroline Hoxby
Country: United States

Hoxby examines several influences on school productivity, concluding that school choice does matter. (08/02)

Cleveland, school choice and the Constitution
Source: NCPA
Author: David J. Owsiany
Country: United States

"The Cleveland voucher program allows families who could not otherwise afford to exercise choice (e.g., by moving to another district, enrolling in private schools, undertaking home schooling) to decide what constitutes an appropriate education for their children. This was clearly a legitimate public policy goal for the Ohio General Assembly when it created the Cleveland program." (12/18/01)

Tuition tax credits: a model for school choice
Source: NCPA
Author: Lisa Graham Keegan
Country: United States

"Inspired largely by the success of Arizona's Tuition Tax Credit Program, a number of states are establishing tax credits to support scholarships that families may use to send their children to both public and private schools." (12/01)

Escaping IDEA: Freeing parents, teachers, and students through deregulation and choice
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Marie Gryphon and David Salisbury
Country: United States

This report looks at the IDEA program, which provides federal funding for the education of disabled children. IDEA fails, the report concludes, because it creates an adversarial environment where the parents of disabled children are forced to compete with other parents and negotiate with teachers and educators to secure funds for their kids. (Full text available as PDF file) (07/11/02)

Why tax credits are better than vouchers
Source: Independent Institute
Author: Andrew J. Coulson
Country: United States

Coulson makes the case for educational tax credits, saying they would ensure universal access to the education marketplace. (PDF file) (12/02)

Why conservatives and libertarians should support school vouchers
Source: Independent Institute
Author: Joseph L. Bast
Country: United States

School vouchers would improve educational quality and are wholly consistent with the goals of limiting government and maximizing liberty. Vouchers also would restore the justice that all parents and taxpayers deserve as a matter of right. (PDF file) (12/02)

School choice basics
Source: Cascade Policy Institute
Country: United States

This Cascade Policy Institute publication provides an overview of education reform approaches and introduction to policies that empower parents to select the best schools for their children. (01/25/02)

A practical guide to school choice after Zelman
Source: Cato
Author: Marie Gryphon
Country: United States

Paper explaining the facts and history of the Cleveland program upheld in Zelman and provides advocates, lawmakers, and concerned parents with a clear explanation of the rules that the Supreme Court has established for school choice. (Full text available as PDF file) (2/4/03)

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