Article

The Participant Effects of Private School Vouchers Across the Globe: A Meta-Analytic and Systematic Review

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Abstract

School voucher programs (a.k.a. opportunity scholarships) are scholarship programs – frequently government funded - that pay for students to attend private schools of their choice. Many private school vouchers programs have been initiated around the world with the goal of increasing the academic performance of students. Voucher programs are often viewed as a way to increase achievement and satisfaction for individual students and families, while at the same time creating competitive pressures that encourage other schools in the area to improve. Countries like Chile and India have developed extensive school voucher programs. While many studies have been conducted on school vouchers, a meta-analysis of the international randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the achievement effects of vouchers has never been conducted. This study is a meta-analytic consolidation of the evidence from all RCTs evaluating the participant test score effects of school vouchers internationally. Our search process turned up 9,443 potential studies, 19 of which ultimately were included. These 19 studies represent 11 different voucher programs. A total of 262 effect sizes are included, with a two-stage consolidation of those estimates yielding a total of 44 drawn from the last year of the studies. We have included only math and reading outcomes as other subjects are rarely reported and are difficult to compare across countries. We also differentiate between English and reading outcomes and present English results as a subcomponent of the reading effects to account for the effect of local language in the international context. Our meta-analysis indicates overall positive and statistically significant achievement effects of school vouchers that vary by subject (math or reading), location (US v. non-US), and funding type (public or private). Generally, the impacts are larger (1) for reading than for math, (2) for programs outside the US relative to those within the US, and (3) for publicly-funded programs relative to privately-funded programs.

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... Of the 20 existing random assignment studies of the effects of private school choice on student achievement, only two have found negative impacts in the final year of their analyses (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak, and Walters, 2018;Dynarski, Webber, and Bachman, 2017). A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. ...
... A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, some private school choice studies find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills and Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf, 2016;Waddington and Berends, 2017). ...
... Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, some private school choice studies find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills and Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf, 2016;Waddington and Berends, 2017). ...
Article
Objective This study estimates the effects of private schooling on noncognitive outcomes as measured by patterns of student responses on exams and surveys. Methods I use Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data from over 300,000 individual students within 44 countries in 2009 and a historical natural experiment to estimate the causal impact of private schooling on student effort. Since nations with larger shares of Catholics in 1900 tend to have larger shares of private schooling today, the study uses the Catholic share of the population in 1900 as an exogenous instrument to predict whether a given child is in a private school in 2009. Results The results suggest that private schooling increases student effort on PISA tests, as measured by test decline, while decreasing diligence on student surveys, as measured by careless answer patterns and nonresponse rates. In addition, I find that private schooling substantially increases PISA test scores, and that stronger noncognitive skills are associated with higher PISA scores. Conclusion Since this is the first study to connect school sector to these noncognitive outcomes, additional research on this topic is especially welcome. More research is also needed on the validity of measures such as test decline, careless answer patterns, and nonresponse rates.
... The evidence on how private school choice impacts standardized test scores is abundant. Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) perform a meta-analysis and systematic review of the evidence from 19 experimental studies and find that private school voucher programs around the world produce small positive impacts on student achievement. They also find that the results are typically larger for reading scores, programs outside of the United States, and publicly funded programs. ...
... While the overall average of the experimental evaluations of private school choice programs is slightly positive overall (Shakeel et al., 2016), the more recent experimental evaluations find null (Mills & Wolf, 2017a) to negative (Abdulkadiroğlu et al., 2018;Dynarski et al., 2018;Mills & Wolf 2017b) effects on student standardized test scores. This downwards trend over the years may cause concern about the overall merits and policy implications regarding private school choice programs today. ...
... The four experimental evaluations (Angrist, Bettinger, Bloom, King, & Kremer, 2002;Angrist, Bettinger, & Kremer, 2006;Muralidharan & Sundararaman, 2015;Wolf, Egalite, & Dixon, 2015) of private school choice programs outside of the US found slightly larger positive effects on student achievement. All of the programs included in the review were targeted to low-income students by either income limits or program location, or both (Shakeel et al., 2016). Muralidharan and Sundararaman's (2015) experimental evaluation of the privately funded Andhra Pradesh School Choice Experiment found that private school vouchers in India improved reading and English achievement by around a quarter of a standard deviation after 4 years; however, they did not find statistically significant effects of school choice on math achievement overall. ...
Article
The effects of private schooling on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores of 63 countries across the globe from 2000 to 2012 are estimated. I employ year and country fixed effects regression models and use the short-run demand for schooling within a country and year as an instrument to predict private share of schooling enrollment. I find evidence to suggest that an increased share of private schooling leads to improved PISA scores around the world. Specifically, the model using control variables alongside country and year fixed effects finds that a 1 percentage point increase in the private share of schooling enrollment is associated with a 1.4-point increase in math scores and a 1.1-point increase in reading scores. However, only the reading result remains statistically significant in the instrumental variables analysis.
... Of the 20 existing random assignment studies of the effects of private school choice on student achievement, only two have found negative impacts in the final year of their analyses (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak, & Walters, 2018;Dynarski et al., 2017). A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. ...
... A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, private school choice studies often find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills & Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Waddington & Berends, 2017) The studies examining longer-term cognitive outcomes such as high school graduation are less abundant; however, most of these have found large positive effects. ...
... Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, private school choice studies often find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills & Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Waddington & Berends, 2017) The studies examining longer-term cognitive outcomes such as high school graduation are less abundant; however, most of these have found large positive effects. Wolf et al. (2013) took advantage of a randomized lottery-admissions process to find that students using a voucher in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program had a 21-percentage point higher likelihood of graduating. ...
... Of the 20 existing random assignment studies of the effects of private school choice on student achievement, only two have found negative impacts in the final year of their analyses (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak, & Walters, 2018;Dynarski et al., 2017). A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. ...
... A recent meta-analysis of 19 of these experimental studies finds that private school voucher programs have small positive impacts on student test scores around the world (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, private school choice studies often find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills & Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Waddington & Berends, 2017) The studies examining longer-term cognitive outcomes such as high school graduation are less abundant; however, most of these have found large positive effects. ...
... Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) find larger positive impacts for reading than for math, for international programs than for those in the United States, and for programs that are publicly funded than those that are privately funded. Further, private school choice studies often find evidence to suggest that voucher programs are better at shaping student test scores after a few years of use (Mills & Wolf, 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Waddington & Berends, 2017) The studies examining longer-term cognitive outcomes such as high school graduation are less abundant; however, most of these have found large positive effects. Wolf et al. (2013) took advantage of a randomized lottery-admissions process to find that students using a voucher in the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program had a 21-percentage point higher likelihood of graduating. ...
... Another argument of voucher opponents is the school choice, which is claimed to bring a more competitive school market in many countries. To attract parents and students, competition motivates public and private institutions towards the development of more quality and innovative practices in education (Shakeel, Anderson & Wolf, 2016). In the U. S. educational vouchers, for example, the competition among private schools to attract students and their vouchers results in efficiency and innovation in education, since schools have fiscal vouchers to increase and maintain the enrolment ratio (Levin, 2002). ...
... Students attending basic high schools, specifically, have taken the advantage of benefiting from the incentive with high recipient caps. Regarding its low tuition fee, the reason of increase in this school type can also be explained through that targeted voucher programs for low-income students are usually seen to attend low-tuition private schools in developing countries around the world (ERG, 2017;Shakeel et al., 2016). Considering much more reasonable tuition fees of basic high schools, the transformation process of PTIs can also be seen as a factor in the Turkey's case influencing the use of EIP and access to private education. ...
Article
Full-text available
There are diversified experiences among countries with respect to formulation, implementation and outcomes of voucher policies around the world. Education Incentive Policy (EIP) was introduced as a privatization mechanism in Turkey in the 2014-2015 school year to expand the share of private education. This study aims to describe and evaluate the first four-year implementation period of the EIP applied as a voucher-like scheme for students attending private education institutions. A qualitative case study design was applied to explore the goals, rationales, and the intended outcomes of the EIP through policy documents and national statistics as data sources. The results showed that Turkish voucher case used the neoliberal economic rationales which are efficient use of resources, increasing equity for disadvantaged students, and enhancing quality by class-size reduction and competition among schools. The eligibility criteria to benefit from the incentive had a targeted feature for a beneficiary profile of low-to moderate income families. On the other hand, the transformation process of Private Tutoring Institutions (PTIs) into private schools had significantly contributed to the expansion of the share of private education. Further, since the government paid less money per pupil, opportunities aroused to increase the education quality in public education. The EIP needs to be examined how the policy consequences have affected quality and investments rising in public schools.
... Another argument of voucher opponents is the school choice, which is claimed to bring a more competitive school market in many countries. To attract parents and students, competition motivates public and private institutions towards the development of more quality and innovative practices in education (Shakeel, Anderson & Wolf, 2016). In the U. S. educational vouchers, for example, the competition among private schools to attract students and their vouchers results in efficiency and innovation in education, since schools have fiscal vouchers to increase and maintain the enrolment ratio (Levin, 2002). ...
... Students attending basic high schools, specifically, have taken the advantage of benefiting from the incentive with high recipient caps. Regarding its low tuition fee, the reason of increase in this school type can also be explained through that targeted voucher programs for low-income students are usually seen to attend low-tuition private schools in developing countries around the world (ERG, 2017;Shakeel et al., 2016). Considering much more reasonable tuition fees of basic high schools, the transformation process of PTIs can also be seen as a factor in the Turkey's case influencing the use of EIP and access to private education. ...
Article
There are diversified experiences among countries with respect to formulation, implementation and outcomes of voucher policies around the world. Education Incentive Policy (EIP) was introduced as a privatization mechanism in Turkey in the 2014-2015 school year to expand the share of private education. This study aims to describe and evaluate the first four-year implementation period of the EIP applied as a voucher-like scheme for students attending private education institutions. A qualitative case study design was applied to explore the goals, rationales, and the intended outcomes of the EIP through policy documents and national statistics as data sources. The results showed that Turkish voucher case used the neoliberal economic rationales which are efficient use of resources, increasing equity for disadvantaged students, and enhancing quality by class-size reduction and competition among schools. The eligibility criteria to benefit from the incentive had a targeted feature for a beneficiary profile of low-to moderate income families. On the other hand, the transformation process of Private Tutoring Institutions (PTIs) into private schools had significantly contributed to the expansion of the share of private education. Further, since the government paid less money per pupil, opportunities aroused to increase the education quality in public education. The EIP needs to be examined how the policy consequences have affected quality and investments rising in public schools.
... Another argument of voucher opponents is the school choice, which is claimed to bring a more competitive school market in many countries. To attract parents and students, competition motivates public and private institutions towards the development of more quality and innovative practices in education (Shakeel, Anderson & Wolf, 2016). In the U. S. educational vouchers, for example, the competition among private schools to attract students and their vouchers results in efficiency and innovation in education, since schools have fiscal vouchers to increase and maintain the enrolment ratio (Levin, 2002). ...
... Students attending basic high schools, specifically, have taken the advantage of benefiting from the incentive with high recipient caps. Regarding its low tuition fee, the reason of increase in this school type can also be explained through that targeted voucher programs for low-income students are usually seen to attend low-tuition private schools in developing countries around the world (ERG, 2017;Shakeel et al., 2016). Considering much more reasonable tuition fees of basic high schools, the transformation process of PTIs can also be seen as a factor in the Turkey's case influencing the use of EIP and access to private education. ...
... Another argument of voucher opponents is the school choice, which is claimed to bring a more competitive school market in many countries. To attract parents and students, competition motivates public and private institutions towards the development of more quality and innovative practices in education (Shakeel, Anderson & Wolf, 2016). In the U. S. educational vouchers, for example, the competition among private schools to attract students and their vouchers results in efficiency and innovation in education, since schools have fiscal vouchers to increase and maintain the enrolment ratio (Levin, 2002). ...
... Students attending basic high schools, specifically, have taken the advantage of benefiting from the incentive with high recipient caps. Regarding its low tuition fee, the reason of increase in this school type can also be explained through that targeted voucher programs for low-income students are usually seen to attend low-tuition private schools in developing countries around the world (ERG, 2017;Shakeel et al., 2016). Considering much more reasonable tuition fees of basic high schools, the transformation process of PTIs can also be seen as a factor in the Turkey's case influencing the use of EIP and access to private education. ...
Article
There are diversified experiences among countries with respect to formulation, implementation and outcomes of voucher policies around the world. Education Incentive Policy (EIP) was introduced as a privatization mechanism in Turkey in the 2014-2015 school year to expand the share of private education. This study aims to describe and evaluate the first four-year implementation period of the EIP applied as a voucher-like scheme for students attending private education institutions. A qualitative case study design was applied to explore the goals, rationales, and the intended outcomes of the EIP through policy documents and national statistics as data sources. The results showed that Turkish voucher case used the neoliberal economic rationales which are efficient use of resources, increasing equity for disadvantaged students, and enhancing quality by class-size reduction and competition among schools. The eligibility criteria to benefit from the incentive had a targeted feature for a beneficiary profile of low-to moderate income families. On the other hand, the transformation process of Private Tutoring Institutions (PTIs) into private schools had significantly contributed to the expansion of the share of private education. Further, since the government paid less money per pupil, opportunities aroused to increase the education quality in public education. The EIP needs to be examined how the policy consequences have affected quality and investments rising in public schools.
... The evidence on the achievement effects of private school voucher programs is mixed. Overall, the most rigorous empirical research indicates null to positive impacts of vouchers on student test scores with noticeable variation in treatment effects across student subgroups as moderators (Egalite & Wolf, 2016;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Lesser known is the extent to which school characteristics mediate treatment effects. ...
... The most rigorous research focusing on the effects of voucher programs on student achievement reports mixed results. A recent meta-analysis of all experimental evaluations of U.S. programs indicates null-to-positive effects of vouchers on student math and reading achievement (Shakeel et al., 2016). This finding masks considerable heterogeneity across programs. ...
Article
The Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) is a school voucher initiative offering publicly-funded scholarships to students from economically-disadvantaged families to attend participating private schools. Experimental evaluations of the program report large initial negative effects of LSP scholarship usage on standardized assessments after one year that decrease to insignificance by year three and again become negative by year four. Our study explores variation in treatment effects across 14 measures of school quality, school resources, and other school characteristics in the first two years of the program. We find no consistent evidence of mediation that is robust across two analytical sample specifications.
... Defenders of both traditional public schools and private schools argue theoretically and empirically that either school type creates a common good for society (McTighe, 2017;Powers & Potterton, 2017). Researchers continue to debate the evidence on outcomes such as student achievement, attainment, and civic values (Berner, 2017;Gutmann, 1999;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Wolf, 2007). An understudied area in school choice is school climate. ...
... Findings from a recent first year evaluation of District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (DC OSP) show that lowincome parents expressed satisfaction with safety of their children even though the impact on test scores was negative (Dynarski, Webber, Gutmann, & Bachman, 2017). Further research should determine if later years of evaluation of the DC OSP follow an increasing trend as shown by a recent meta-analysis on school vouchers (Shakeel et al., 2016). The observation of a positive trend in test scores over time, along with parental satisfaction, would strengthen the hypothesis that school choice may benefit participants in the long term academically through an improved school environment. ...
Article
A safe school environment is essential for effective learning and the inculcation of civic values. The article presents a comparative analysis of school climate and safety in private and public schools using nationally representative data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 2011–2012. Ordinal logistic regressions are used to study differences in self-reported school climate and safety related information by public and private school principals. Comparisons are also done based on school locality, between public charter and traditional public schools, and between Catholic, other religious, and nonsectarian private schools. We find that principals in private schools are much less likely to report the presence of strict school safety practices than their public school counterparts; also, due to lower likelihood of crime-related incidences at their campuses, we conclude that private schools may offer a school environment that is more suitable for long-term success.
... School choice programs around the nation have produced a number of important benefits over the years. Participation in school choice programs has been found to increase test scores (Shakeel, Anderson and Wolf, 2016), increase graduation rates (Cowen et al., 2013;Wolf et al., 2013) and reduce occurrences of crime (DeAngelis and Wolf, 2016a). But, for better or worse, debates on the merits of school choice programs often come down to dollars and cents. ...
... Hanushek (2011) found that a one standard deviation increase in standardized test scores is associated with a 13 percent increase in lifetime earnings. We combine the Hanushek estimate with the experimental meta-analysis by Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) finding that the scientific evidence overall shows that private school choice programs improve student reading achievement by 27 percent of a standard deviation. Since 70 percent of learning is retained from one year to the next over the that results from 13 years of education received from the traditional public-school system in the state. ...
Article
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Mississippi has a unique opportunity to improve its future economic condition through implementing a fully universal Education Savings Account (ESA) program. We forecast the economic impacts of such a program accrued through decreased criminal activity, increased high school graduation rates, and increased lifetime earnings. Our models assuming a higher rate of program participation find: • Mississippi would pass West Virginia in 14 years on per capita personal income, and the advantage would grow to around 2,300perpersonbytheyear2036.Mississippisstreetswouldhave9,990fewerfelonsand13,824fewermisdemeanantsby2036,leadingtoareductionofover2,300 per person by the year 2036. • Mississippi's streets would have 9,990 fewer felons and 13,824 fewer misdemeanants by 2036, leading to a reduction of over 384 million in costs to society. • Mississippi would have 7,798 more graduates by 2036, leading to social benefits in excess of 1.6billion.Ourmodelsassumingmoderateratesofprogramgrowthfind:MississippiwouldpassWestVirginiainlessthantwodecadesonpercapitapersonalincomeandtheadvantagewouldgrowtoaround1.6 billion. Our models assuming moderate rates of program growth find: • Mississippi would pass West Virginia in less than two decades on per capita personal income and the advantage would grow to around 700 per person by the year 2036. • Mississippi would have 6,191 fewer felons and 8,566 fewer misdemeanants by 2036, leading to a reduction of over 238millionincoststosociety.Mississippiwouldhave5,338moregraduatesby2036,leadingtosocialbenefitsinexcessof238 million in costs to society. • Mississippi would have 5,338 more graduates by 2036, leading to social benefits in excess of 1 billion.
... . Eleven of the studies find positive impacts for some or all students (e.g., Cowen, 2008;Wolf et al., 2013), while four find no effects (e.g., Bettinger & Slonim, 2006;Mills & Wolf, 2017a). Furthermore, evaluations indicate that the test score impacts of voucher programs improve over time (e.g., Mills & Wolf, 2017a;Shakeel et al., 2016;Waddington & Berends, 2017). ...
... Of course, it is also possible that open-enrollment schools increase parental satisfaction without improving student outcomes. However, while this particular study is not able to estimate any impacts on student-level outcomes, other evaluations indicate that school choice can improve outcomes such as student achievement (Shakeel et al., 2016) and attainment . If the aim is to increase the quality of schools available to children, it would be wise for legislators to approve policies that increase the degree of school choice that is available to families. ...
Article
I employ ordered probit regression and a new instrumental variable to compare the Fall 2015 parental satisfaction survey results of open-enrollment charters to district-conversion charters. Choice status in Arkansas charter schools is largely beneficial to parental satisfaction. Specifically, parents with children in open-enrollment charters had between a 17-percentage point and 32-percentage point higher likelihood of grading their current school as an A or responding as Highly Satisfied in six of nine quality categories. I find no evidence that parents rate the quality of schools similar to the analysts at the Arkansas Department of Education or that satisfaction differs in oversubscribed schools.
... The number of such schools has grown significantly in the US (to around 7,000 charter schools over 26 years -Epple, Romano, and Zimmer 2016), and in the UK (to around 5,000 'academies' over 16 years -Eyles, Machin, and McNally 2017). In developing countries the evidence is more positive on vouchers and subsidies (Aslam, Rawal, and Saeed 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf 2016), but there are fewer studies on private management of public schools. ...
Article
Full-text available
Can governments contract out school management at scale? In 2016 the Government of Punjab transferred management of over 4,000 failing primary schools to private operators. Schools remained free to students. Private operators received a government subsidy per enrolled student of less than half per-student spending in government schools. This paper evaluates the effects on performance of converted schools. Comparing early converters to later converters, we estimate that enrolment in treated schools increased by over 60 percent, and test scores declined sharply. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Debates continue over religion in public schools. Schools and their curriculums affect students' cognitive and noncognitive skills as well as their preferences (Cantoni et al., 2017;Cappelen et al., 2020;DeAngelis & Wolf, 2020;Jackson, 2018;Shakeel et al., 2016). Religion influences current policies such as whether a state restricts public school textbooks to a statewide list or permits more local control (Phillips, 2014). ...
Article
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Schools are one of the ways parents transmit their cultural values. US public education historically promoted Protestantism. We examine two conflicts over classroom religious exercises during the 1960s: school prayer and Bible reading. Supreme Court rulings on those matters created controversy by changing the cultural values transmitted in public schools. More conservative and evangelical religious traditions felt that their children were deprived of vital religious instruction; some moderate and liberal Protestants, as well as Jews, praised the removal of religious exercise from the public schools. We document changes in private school enrollments between 1960 and 1970 for US counties with differing religious adherence. In counties with more evangelicals and fewer Catholics, private school enrollment increased by 13–17%. States that previously had required Bible reading also saw larger increases in private school enrollments. The results are robust to a variety of checks, including controls for race-related enrollment decisions. Our results imply that evangelical families relied on public schools to transmit religious values; when the nature of public schools changed, some of them shifted to private schools. The analysis of that historical event can inform contemporary discussions about school curriculums and vouchers.
... No problem -it can be simply eliminated by selecting a more advantaged population of students into a school. This policy is implemented through a number of reforms that regulate school admissions [Söderström, Uusitalo 2010] and introduce student transfers, e. g. based on voucher scholarship programs [Shakeel, Anderson, Wolf 2021]. However, such measures seem to be overly drastic and hardly applicable in the Russian context. ...
Article
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The problem of inequality in Russian education takes on particular significance in the context of massification and increasingly differential quality of higher education. Relevant research is mostly focused on individual student characteristics and regional aspects as factors for inequality. Less often, researchers’ attention is attracted to school factors, such as school socioeconomic composition (SEC) which is considered one of the most powerful school predictors of student achievement. The long-term effect of school composition on students’ educational trajectories remains underinvestigated, although higher education is more important for life chances than school achievement. In the present study, Russian data (the Higher School of Economics’ project Trajectories in Education and Careers) is used for the first time to measure the effect of school SEC on educational choices and chances of getting into college. This effect is analyzed successively for key decisions and outcomes at every stage of long-term educational trajectories. Analysis is performed with due regard to the specifics of Russian education and the sorting of students into the academic and hybrid tracks in pursuit for college degrees. School composition is found to be positively associated with proceeding from middle to high school, obtaining a college degree, and pursuing a Master’s degree. The largest influence of school SEC on college enrollment is observed for students who enroll in vocational studies after middle school. The compositional effect is extremely robust and persists even when student achievement and family characteristics are controlled for. Adding school SEC to the model offsets the effect of individual socioeconomic status on the likelihood of going to college, which means that exclusion of SEC from analysis may lead to invalid inferences in educational research. The effects detected cannot be explained by differences in achievement, so it would be reasonable to explore the social mechanisms behind the compositional effect in further research. School desegregation measures suggested on the basis of prior findings may turn out to be hasty and overly drastic in practice for russian context. *Online Appendix: https://doi.org/10.17632/ysx93pfhgx.1
... 18 We are not the first to find impacts on math scores but no effects on reading scores. The existence of effects on one subject but not in the other has been documented for interventions such as school vouchers (Shakeel et al., 2016), school feeding programs (Lawson, 2012) and other educational interventions (Evans and Popova, 2016). Even the effects of climate change on learning show a differential impact between math (negative) and reading (no effect) as suggested by Graff Zivin et al. (2018). ...
... Lotteries as a method of distributing school admissions provide equal access to schools since it is a way of ensuring an "even social mix" (Simon et al., 2007). They have been applied to allocate students within school catchment areas (Musset, 2012), for the distribution of vouchers which partially covered school fees (Angrist et al., 2002;Shakeel et al., 2016), but they are mostly applied to solve the problem of oversubscribed schools (Deming et al., 2014;Stasz & Von Stolk, 2007). For instance, in some cities of England, lotteries replaced the criterion of proximity to school for oversubscribed places (Allen et al., 2013). ...
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This research analyses the socioeconomic and cultural segregation of students across school catchment areas using census data for the students in their second year of secondary education in Andalusia (the most populated region in Spain). The main methodology used is the Mutual Information Index, which satisfies all the desirable properties for measuring segregation. Concretely, we draw upon the additive decomposability property, which decomposes the segregation of students across schools into the different levels in which schools can be grouped, that is, catchment areas and, within catchment areas, by source of funding (public and semiprivate schools). We found that school segregation is greater than catchment areas’ segregation. Additionally, statistically significant correlations are found between the level of segregation within the catchment areas and factors such as size of the catchment area, parental level of education and size of the municipality where the school is located.
... 18 We are not the first to find impacts on math scores but no effects on reading scores. The existence of effects on one subject but not in the other has been documented for interventions such as school vouchers (Shakeel et al., 2016), school feeding programs (Lawson, 2012) and other educational interventions (Evans and Popova, 2016). Even the effects of climate change on learning show a differential impact between math (negative) and reading (no effect) as suggested by Graff Zivin et al. (2018). ...
Article
We exploit time and spatial variation generated by the commodities boom to measure the effect of natural resources on human capital formation in Peru, a country with low governance indicators. Combining test scores from over two million students and district-level administrative data of mining taxes redistributed to local governments, we find sizable effects on student learning from the redistribution. However, and consistent with recent political economy models, the relationship is non-monotonic. Based on these models, we identify improvements in school expenditure and infrastructure, together with increases in health outcomes of adults and children, as key mechanisms explaining the effect we find for redistribution. Policy implications for the avoidance of the natural resource curse are discussed.
... Larger private school shares of the educational sphere, charter schools, and voucher programs increase competitive pressures in a geographic area (Friedman, 1955). More school choice tends to improve academic (Shakeel et al., 2016) and non-academic outcomes (DeAngelis, 2017;Wolf, 2007). Because families value the overall health and safety of their children (Holmes Erickson, 2017;Kelly & Scafidi, 2013;Stewart et al., 2009Stewart et al., , 2010, competitive pressures may improve schools in ways that maintain or improve mental health. ...
Article
School choice allows families to choose schools that are more suited to their children. These choices may affect non-academic outcomes, including students’ mental health. We empirically examine the relationship between school choice and mental health using two methods. First, we use difference-in-differences to estimate the effects of state voucher and charter school laws on adolescent suicide rates. States adopting charter school laws witness declines in adolescent suicides, whereas private school voucher laws are generally not associated with statistically significant changes in suicides. Second, we use survey data to estimate the effects of private schooling on adult mental health. Controlling for a post-baseline measure of mental health and a variety of individual characteristics, the estimates suggest that private schooling reduces the likelihood that individuals report having mental health issues as adults.
... Vouchers have been studied since the first program began in Milwaukee in 1990, and recently released findings for programs operating in Louisiana, Indiana, and Ohio have added to the knowledge base. Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf (2016) apply a rigorous systematic-review process to the research literature. A brief overview of findings is provided here for context. ...
Technical Report
Full-text available
The DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), established in 2004, is the only federally-funded private school voucher program for low-income parents in the United States. This report examines impacts on achievement and other outcomes one year after eligible children were selected or not selected to receive scholarships using a lottery process in 2012, 2013, and 2014. The study found negative impacts on student achievement but positive impacts on parent perceptions of school safety, for those participating in the program. There were no statistically significant effects on parents' or students' general satisfaction with their schools or parent involvement in education.
... The first related study is a meta-analysis on the achievement effect of private voucher programmes with an international approach (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). It includes 19 studies from eleven different voucher programmes, and it consolidates their effectiveness using pupil math and reading outcomes. ...
Conference Paper
The present thesis focuses on the topic of education inequality at the school level. It aims to explore how different school admission policies can hinder or promote equality of opportunities in education. To achieve this, the first research chapter, co-authored with Gabriel Gutierrez and Alison O'Mara-Eves, serves to contextualise from an international perspective the extent and impact of randomised school admissions. Through a systematic search, this paper synthesises the evidence with a narrative summary and a meta-analysis of the effects that school systems or programs with random admissions have on academic and non-academic areas of students. The results focus on the countries and types of schools or programs that use lottery admissions, as well as on the purpose, implementation and evaluation of these admissions in the available literature. The other two papers examine the relationship between education inequality and admission policies in Chile’s school system. Under the premise that the more the schools can shape their student body through the admission process, the more segregated the students will be, the second research chapter looks into selective admissions in primary and secondary education. Following a panel of schools and using a flexible differences-in-differences approach and a linear regression model with school and time fixed effects, this paper evaluates the effect of using different selective admission mechanisms on student academic and school socioeconomic outcomes. Finally, the third research chapter looks into the case of a new school offering primary and secondary education. Using a unique dataset and exploiting lottery admissions to allocate the entire student body, this paper estimates the effect of this educational program on student outcomes. In the context of a school system transitioning to a national admission scheme including a random mechanism, this research provides suggestive evidence of the challenges that new schools could face under the admissions reform.
... That finding was later cited in various new and traditional news sources, likely drawing attention away from negative voucher efficacy studies. As another example, Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf were highlighted by the University of Arkansas for their meta-analysis that found 'positive impact of school choice programs worldwide' (University of Arkansas 2016, May 10; see Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf 2016). Despite profound limitations and errors in the working paper (Lubienski 2016), it was subsequently picked up by several organizations, including the Wall Street Journal, which the University of Arkansas then also highlighted. ...
Article
The primary justification for school voucher programs in the United States has revolved around questions of efficacy, especially relative to student achievement outcomes. More recently, however, a series of studies revealed sizable negative impacts on students enrolled in voucher programs. Collectively, these studies presented an evidentiary sea-change and undercut voucher advocates’ traditional claims regarding achievement impacts, presenting an opportunity for us to examine the strategies used to advance evidence on vouchers in new and traditional media. We identify several such strategies, including highlighting limitations of student achievement measures; explaining negative results through program particulars (e.g. overregulation or inadequate funding); demonizing opponents; and changing the conversation (e.g. switching to normative claims). We note voucher opponents’ activities becoming more frequent and otherwise evolving – e.g. becoming bolder and combining achievement results with other ideas and arguments to oppose voucher programs. Media coverage of voucher programs and research, more generally, fluctuated significantly according to broader political events. These findings reveal how research evidence can be leveraged in policy discussions and advocacy – what we call ‘strategic dissembling’ – whereby advocates and policymakers adjust in real time to changing empirical conditions as part of their long-term efforts to advance a particular policy agenda.
... The literature on the effects of private schooling on test scores is abundant (e.g. Angrist, Bettinger, Bloom, King, & Kremer, 2002;DeAngelis, 2019a;Rouse, 1998;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). Fewer evaluations have been able to determine the effects of private school choice programmesand private schooling in generalon students' non-cognitive skills (e.g. ...
Article
Students’ abilities are multidimensional; teachers and schools shape students’ cognitive skills, most often captured by test scores, but they also shape students’ non-cognitive skills such as character, tolerance, effort, and conscientiousness. This study reviews the evidence indicating disconnects between test scores and non-cognitive skills from the literature on value-added modelling and private school choice programmes. Because several studies reveal disconnects, designers of public and private school policies should consider the potential unintended consequences of shaping teacher and school incentives based on standardised test scores.
... Dating back to studies of the first voucher program in Milwaukee in the 1990s, researchers have used administrative data to evaluate the effects of vouchers on student outcomes, and although these analyses been central to our understanding of voucher effects, findings have been mixed (see Berends, Cannata, and Goldring 2011). Although policymakers expected that evaluation of the Milwaukee program and subsequent voucher programs in other locales would settle disputes about the effects of vouchers on student outcomes, the research findings instead have been nuanced and mixed with some positive, some negative, and some null effects on student academic achievement outcomes (for reviews, see Austin and Berends 2018;Epple, Romano, and Urquiola 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf 2016;Zimmer and Bettinger 2015). ...
Article
Full-text available
This article examines the pathways that students can follow within the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program and the associations with their math and English language arts achievement in upper elementary and middle school. We analyze student-level longitudinal data by matching voucher and nonvoucher students to estimate the role of participating in the voucher program, taking advantage of the uniqueness of Indiana public and private schools taking the same standardized assessment over time. The different student pathways for using vouchers are related to student achievement with significant achievement losses for students who switch from a public to a private school with a voucher. Students who have always attended a private school, both before and after receiving a voucher, experience no significant changes in achievement.
... Fifty-six private school choice programs are operating in 29 states plus the District of Columbia, enrolling over 482,000 students in -19 (EdChoice, 2019. 1 Most evaluations of private school choice programs have examined their effects on standardized test scores. A recent meta-analysis of 19 experimental studies of 11 different programs around the world finds that private school vouchers have null or small positive effects on student achievement (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). However, test-score outcomes vary significantly across evaluations based on each individual study's research methodology, academic subject, and age. ...
... In advanced economies, evidence increasingly suggests that charter schools are a more promising form of market-orientated school reform than vouchers (Epple et al., 2017) (Epple et al., 2016). Evidence from developing countries is more positive on vouchers and subsidies for private schools (Aslam et al., 2017) (Shakeel et al., 2016), but given the limited number of studies it is not yet possible to make a clear distinction between the effectiveness of different types of model. As yet there is no rigorous study on a large scale Charter-style public school management programme in a low or middleincome country, in which contexts the capacity of the state to manage effective procurement and regulation are likely to be particularly low. ...
Preprint
Can governments contract out the management of schools to private operators at scale? This paper estimates the effect of a school reform in Punjab, Pakistan, in which 4,276 poorly performing public primary schools (around 10 percent of the total) were contracted out to private operators in a single school year. These schools remain free to students and the private operator receives a per-student subsidy equivalent to less than half of spending in government schools. Using a difference-indifference framework we estimate that enrolment in converted schools increased by over 60 percent. Converted schools see a slight decline in overall average test scores, but this may be a composition effect rather than a treatment effect. Schools with the same number or fewer students as in the previous year saw no change in average test scores.
... The concept of school choice, made popular in the United States by Milton Friedman (1955), has arguably led to substantial quality improvements (DeAngelis 2017;Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf 2016;Wolf 2007;Wolf et al. 2013) and cost reductions (Lueken 2016;Spalding 2014) in the K-12 education system. In theory, the ability to opt out of a residentially assigned government school provides additional competitive pressures for all schools, public or private, to perform well. ...
Article
Full-text available
The system of policing in the United States is costly and ineffective, perhaps because of the government monopoly on residentially assigned police departments. A system of private or public police choice could introduce competitive pressures into the market for policing and improve overall quality levels. I discuss current and historical examples of private policing and respond to the most common criticisms of systems of police choice. These criticisms can be placed into one of the following six categories: (1) conflicts between customers of different agencies, (2) situations in which one agency prevents the rights of another company’s customer from being violated, (3) rights protection as a public good, (4) rights protection having positive externalities, (5) certain types of violations’ having costs that are spread out across several members of society, and (6) rights protection’s being too important to leave to private profit-seeking firms. I also propose possible police-choice policy options that could be used to achieve a society with stronger rights protection and fewer rights violations.
... A meta- analytic review of 19 experimental evaluations of voucher programs around the globe finds small improvements in math and reading test scores. 2 These evaluations employ random as- signment, considered to be the "gold standard" of empirical testing because it is intended to isolate the effects of the variable of inter- est from the effects of other factors. In other words, random-assignment evaluations allow us to confidently conclude that observed dif- ferences in student outcomes are the result of the types of schools the students attend. ...
... With the global expansion in the number of voucher programs, research addressing the effects of these programs has increased as well (Berends, 2018). Evidence can be drawn from both publicly and privately funded voucher programs in the United States and from international research (Epple, Romano, & Urquiola, 2017;Figlio, 2009;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Zimmer & Bettinger, 2015). ...
Article
This paper examines the impact of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program on student achievement for low‐income students in upper elementary and middle school who used a voucher to transfer from public to private schools during the first four years of the program. We analyzed student‐level longitudinal data from public and private schools taking the same statewide standardized assessment. Overall, voucher students experienced an average achievement loss of 0.15 SDs in mathematics during their first year of attending a private school compared with matched students who remained in a public school. This loss persisted regardless of the length of time spent in a private school. In English/Language Arts, we did not observe statistically meaningful effects. Although school vouchers aim to provide greater educational opportunities for students, the goal of improving the academic performance of low‐income students who use a voucher to move to a private school has not yet been realized in Indiana.
... All but two of the 20 experimental evaluations of private school choice programmes across the globe have found null to positive impacts on student achievement (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). One of these exceptions was an evaluation of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) (Abdulkadiroğlu, Pathak, & Walters, 2018), while the other is the most recent evaluation of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) (Dynarski, Rui, Webber, & Gutmann, 2017). ...
Article
We examine whether voucher programme regulation reduces private school specialisation in the US. We employ school-and-year fixed-effects regression and examine individual private schools in Washington, DC, Indiana, and Louisiana as they transition into voucher programme environments. We leverage the Private School Universe Survey to observe how schools self-identify before and after switching into voucher environments. We find that upon switching into school voucher environments, private schools in all 3 locations are more likely to identify as less specialised than they were prior to entering the programmes. We find suggestive evidence that the homogenising effects may be stronger in more heavily regulated voucher programme environments, and that those schools in more lightly regulated environments are more likely to continue highlighting their specialised approach to education. These findings are examined within an institutional theory framework to understand the potential homogenising effect of regulations on the diversity of the private school market.
... A meta-analytic and systematic review of 19 experimental voucher studies around the world finds that, on average, private schools increase math scores by 15 percent of a standard deviation and reading scores by 27 percent of a standard deviation. 20 Out of the 17 voucher experiments in the United States, 11 find statistically significant positive test-score effects for some or all students, four find no statistically significant effects, while two find negative effects. 21 The meta-analysis from 16 of the U.S. experimental studies finds that, on average, private schooling does not have a statistically significant effect on reading scores, but it increases math scores by around 7 percent of a standard deviation. ...
Article
Full-text available
Is public schooling a public good, a merit good, or a demerit good? Public schooling fails both conditions specified in the standard economic definition of a public good. In order to place public schooling into one of the remaining two categories, I first assess all of the theoretical positive and negative externalities resulting from public schooling as opposed to publicly financed universal school vouchers. Then, in an original contribution to the literature, I quantify the magnitude and sign of the net externality of government schooling in the United States using the preponderance of the most rigorous scientific evidence. While the counts of theoretical positive and negative externalities are about equal, the empirical evidence leads me to estimate that public schooling in the United States has a net negative externality of at least $1.3 trillion—over the lifetime of the current cohort of children in government schools—relative to publicly funded universal school vouchers. I conclude with three policy recommendations: (1) the U.S. government should not operate schools at the local, state, or federal level on the basis of schooling’s being a public good; (2) U.S. citizens should not fund government schooling indirectly through the tax system on the basis of schooling being a merit good; and (3) the United States should instead fund education directly—rather than schooling—through a universal Education Savings Account (ESA) program.
... Cowen 2008;Greene 2001;Wolf et al. 2013), while four find no effects (Bitler et al. 2013;Bettinger & Slonim 2006;Krueger & Zhu 2004;Mills & Wolf 2017). In addition, voucher programs tend to produce test score effects that improve with time (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf 2016). For example, while the voucher programs in Louisiana and Indiana negatively affect student test scores in initial years, choice students catch up to their peers in public schools after three years (Mills & Wolf 2017;Waddington & Berends 2017). ...
Article
Full-text available
We employ probit regression analysis to compare the adult voting activity of students who participated in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) to their matched public school counterparts. We use a sophisticated matching algorithm to create a traditional public school student comparison group using data from the state-mandated evaluation of the MPCP. By the time the students are 19-26 years old, we do not find evidence that private school voucher students are more or less likely to vote in 2012 or 2016 than students educated in public schools. These results are robust to all models and are consistent for all subgroups.
... In fact, the United States President-Elect, Donald Trump, promised massive expansion of private school choice through a reallocation of $20 billion in federal funding in 2017. Evidence suggests that private schools slightly outperform public schools on improving student achievement within the US as well as internationally (Betts & Tang, 2011;Forster, 2016;Greene, 2005;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016;Tooley, 2005;Tooley, Bao, Dixon, & Merrifield, 2011). Most of the school choice studies focus on student achievement (West & Woessmann, 2010;Witte, 2001;Witte et al., 2014;Wolf et al., 2013). ...
... There is substantial evidence that private choice programs have positive effects for students. A meta-analysis of 19 voucher experiments around the world indicates that private school choice improves student math and reading test scores (Shakeel, Anderson, and Wolf 2016). Out of 20 experimental evaluations of private school choice in the United States, only two find negative impacts on student math and reading test scores (Abdulkadiroglu, Pathak, and Walters 2015;Dynarski et al. 2017). ...
... The majority of private school choice evaluations have focused on how private schooling can impact students' educational outcomes. A recent meta-analysis of 19 experimental studies (Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016) and field work (Tooley & Dixon, 2005) found that private school choice can increase student academic achievement internationally. Moreover, two experimental evaluations in the US have found that access to private school voucher programmes leads to large positive impacts on the likelihood that children will graduate from high school (Wolf et al., 2013) and enrol in college (Chingos & Peterson, 2015). ...
Article
Specialised learning environments provided through private schooling may increase educational quality, which may increase the likelihood that citizens will pursue human rights through civic engagement. We employed 2-stage least squares year and country-level fixed effects and examined how private schooling could affect political rights, civil liberties, and economic freedom indices in 174 nations across the globe from 1999 to 2014. We used an innovative instrumental variable, fluctuations in the short-run demand for schooling within countries, over time, in order to predict private schooling. Our results suggest that an increased share of private schooling enrolment at the primary level leads to enhanced political and economic freedom.
... I decided to remedy that situation by requiring that my students write systematic reviews as seminar papers. My only rule was that the papers could not be summaries of the test score effects of school vouchers or charter schools, since thorough compilations of the evidence regarding those questions already exist (e.g., Betts & Tang, 2014;Egalite & Wolf, 2016;Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf, 2016). ...
... They found of the 17 analyses examined, only 1 reported negative results and 2 null results. Such findings were similar to another meta-analysis conducted by Shakeel, Anderson, & Wolf (2016). Further, they found voucher impacts were larger for: 1) reading than math, 2) programs outside the U.S. (than within), and 3) publically-funded relative to privatively-funded programs. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This paper shows how particular legal provisions embedded within the law—Title I, IV, V, and IX competitive grants/subsidies—offer a trajectory for leveraging Trump’s school choice agenda. Moreover, analyzing current school choice polices (i.e. designs), subsequent state laws, and empirical research, it demonstrates the potential pitfalls in scaling up such market-based systems.
Article
For decades, social theorists have posited—and descriptive accounts have shown—that students isolated by both social class and ethnicity suffer extreme deprivations that limit the effectiveness of equal-opportunity interventions. Even educational programs that yield positive results for moderately disadvantaged students may not prove beneficial for those who possess less of the economic, social, and cultural capital that play a critical role in improving educational outcomes. Yet evaluations of school choice and other educational interventions seldom estimate programmatic effects on severely disadvantaged students who are isolated by both ethnicity and social class. We experimentally estimate differential effects of a 1997 New York City school voucher intervention on college attainment for minority students by household income and mother’s education. Postsecondary outcomes as of 2017 come from the National Student Clearinghouse. The severely deprived did not benefit from the intervention despite substantial positive effects on college enrollments and degree attainment for the moderately disadvantaged. School choice programs and other interventions or public policies may need to pay greater attention to ensuring that families possess the requisite forms of capital—human, economic, social, and cultural—to realize their intended benefits.
Article
Objectives This study aims to determine if private school choice reduces the proclivity of students to commit crimes as adults. Methods We examine crime rates for young adults who experienced Milwaukee's citywide voucher program as high school students compared to matched public school peers using unique data collected as part of a longitudinal evaluation of the program. Results We find that mere exposure to private schooling through a voucher is associated with lower rates of criminal activity, but the relationship is not robust to different analytic samples. Students who used the program through 12th grade, however, were much less likely to have criminal records than their public school peers. These results are apparent when controlling for a robust set of student demographics, test scores, and parental characteristics. Conclusions We conclude that merely being exposed to private schooling for a short time through a voucher program may not have a significant impact on criminal activity, though persistently attending a private school through a voucher program can decrease subsequent crime rates.
Article
While the primary focus of ethical discussions involving school voucher programs has been on the relationship—and possible disconnect—between educational outcomes and profit motivations, recently this focus has shifted to the relationship between consumer sovereignty and racial segregation. A growing critique of private voucher and charter programs claims that they are ethically problematic because they lead to racial and economic segregation of students, are linked historically to racial segregation, or both. As a result, both school choice advocates who support these programs for educational reasons and businesses that profit from them are said to be ethically blameworthy. We show that these claims are rooted in a misrepresentation of both the underlying historical events and empirical data. The article concludes by presenting an ethical case for educational competition on the grounds that, under certain circumstances, such programs tend to reduce race and economic class segregation.
Article
Even the most effective education reforms and initiatives are unlikely to have a uniform effect on all students. In fact, much like in medicine, some beneficial efforts can have adverse side effects. Yong Zhao takes up this idea as it applies to school choice and voucher programs. When researchers tout the benefits of vouchers, they focus on the average effect of such programs on participating students. But because some students experience negative effects, Zhao argues that vouchers must not be considered a panacea for improving student outcomes.
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study was to gather data from public school parents that would contribute to the understanding of parental involvement with school choice for their children and of parental involvement with educational organizations. We employed a case study approach as the methodological basis for eliciting 22 multi-racial parents perceptions' about school climate and their child's school choice. Our comprehensive in-depth semi-structured interviews, field notes, observations, and documents data collection process incorporated feedback from potential respondents from the outset of the design process to enhance data quality. Verbatim transcripts and documents were analyzed using a content and thematic analysis approach. Four over-arching themes were identified; (i) factors that parents value in schools, (ii) concerns about other school choices, (iii) the features and programs that appeal to parents, and (iv) parental perceptions of the chosen school. The findings of this study revealed that parents choose schools for their children for the following reasons. The children were better served, the programs and features offered by schools appealed to most participants, the schools had strong academic programs, a proper school climate and culture were present, the setting embraced diversity and multicultural atmospheres, a safe and secure place was present, and instruction was focused on a small and caring environment.
Article
This article conducts a fiscal analysis of 10 tax-credit programs in seven states. In total, the 10 programs in the present study represent 90% of all scholarships awarded in tax-credit scholarship programs today. The analysis employs a set of cautious assumptions about switcher rates and students who receive multiple scholarships to generate a range of estimates of the net fiscal impact of these tax-credit scholarship programs on state and local taxpayers. Tax-credit scholarship programs up to fiscal year (FY) 2014 generated positive fiscal impacts worth between 1,650and1,650 and 3,000 per scholarship student. In FY 2014 alone, tax-credit scholarship programs generated between about 2millionand2 million and 223 million for their states. Break-even switcher rates for fiscal neutrality are reported for all programs.
Article
Insbesondere im Grundschulbereich nehmen die Schülerzahlen an Privatschulen in den letzten Jahren deutlich zu. Die Gründe hierfür sind vielfältig. Unter anderem verknüpfen Eltern mit dem Besuch von Privatschulen die Erwartung einer besseren schulischen Förderung ihrer Kinder und erhoffen sich größere schulische Erfolge. Die Forschungsbelege für eine höhere Wirksamkeit von Privatschulen sind insgesamt jedoch uneinheitlich, nicht zuletzt auch deshalb, weil es sich häufig um Querschnittstudien handelt. Längsschnittstudien, insbesondere mit Schülerinnen und Schüler im Grundschulalter, liegen kaum vor. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Leistungsentwicklungen von Lernenden an den privaten BIP-Kreativitätsgrundschulen in Mathematik, im Lesen und in der Rechtschreibung und vergleicht sie mit den Leistungsentwicklungen von Schülerinnen und Schülern staatlicher Grundschulen. BIP-Schulen sind private Grundschulen in Ostdeutschland, deren Ziel die umfassende Förderung der Begabung, Intelligenz und Persönlichkeit ist.
Book
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The voucher debate has been both intense and ideologically polarizing, in good part because so little is known about how voucher programs operate in practice. In The Education Gap, William Howell and Paul Peterson report new findings drawn from the most comprehensive study on vouchers conducted to date. Added to the paperback edition of this groundbreaking volume are the authors' insights into the latest school choice developments in American education, including new voucher initiatives, charter school expansion, and public-school choice under No Child Left Behind. The authors review the significance of state and federal court decisions as well as recent scholarly debates over choice impacts on student performance. In addition, the authors present new findings on which parents choose private schools and the consequences the decision has for their children's education. Updated and expanded, The Education Gap remains an indispensable source of original research on school vouchers.
Article
(~~~~..!~~) ~.c:!~~~:) ~ng'e issues subscriptions Does providing low-income families vouchers or scholarships with which they can select a private school improve student achievement? The evidence from the Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) program in Charlotte suggests that providing low-income families with scholarships has significant benefits for those families. This finding is consistent with the results from similar evaluations of scholarship programs in New York, Washington, D.C., and Dayton, Ohio as well as the results of evaluations of publicly funded school choice programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland. ~ Ion iC(e
Reading estimate for Bogota, Colombia is for Spanish. Overall effect size for programs with Bogota, Columbia removed is 0.03 (-0.01, 0.07) for three years of treatment and 0.25 (0.21, 0.29) for four or more years of treatment
  • For Toledo
  • Hindi English
  • India Reading Estimate For Andhra Pradesh
  • English
  • Telugu Hindi
for Toledo, OH as it had only math test outcomes. Reading estimate for Delhi, India includes an overall estimate for English and Hindi. Reading estimate for Andhra Pradesh, India includes an overall estimate for English, Hindi and Telugu. Reading estimate for Bogota, Colombia is for Spanish. Overall effect size for programs with Bogota, Columbia removed is 0.03 (-0.01, 0.07) for three years of treatment and 0.25 (0.21, 0.29) for four or more years of treatment. 0.14 (0.02, 0.27) 0.08 (-0.02, 0.18) 0.01 (-0.21, 0.22) 0.04 (-0.01, 0.09) 0.09 (0.01, 0.18) 0.11 (0.00, 0.22) 0.13 (-0.02, 0.28) 0.07 (0.04, 0.11) 0.01 (-0.09, 0.11) 0.12 (-0.10, 0.34) -0.05 (-0.11, 0.01) 0.07 (-0.03, 0.17) 0.08 (-0.01, 0.18) 0.23 (0.08, 0.38) -0.02 (-0.08, 0.04) 0.01 (-0.02, 0.04) 0.02 (-0.14, 0.17) 0.12 (0.01, 0.23) 0.04 (-0.02, 0.10) 0.15 (-0.08, 0.39) 0.03 (-0.07, 0.13) 0.00 (-0.29, 0.30) 0.05 (0.01, 0.09) -0.03 (-0.09, 0.03) 0.26 (0.13, 0.40) 0.40 (0.33, 0.47) 0.02 (-0.09, 0.13) 0.15 (0.11, 0.19)
Balancing freedom, autonomy and accountability in education
  • C L Glenn
  • J De Groof
  • C S Candal
Glenn, C. L., De Groof, J., & Candal, C. S. (2012c). Balancing freedom, autonomy and accountability in education. Volume 3. Wolf Legal Publishers.
Reading estimate for Bogota, Colombia is for Spanish. Overall effect size for programs with Bogota, Columbia removed is 0.03 (-0.01, 0.07) for three years of treatment and 0.25 (0.21, 0.29) for four or more years of treatment
  • Toledo
for Toledo, OH as it had only math test outcomes. Reading estimate for Delhi, India includes an overall estimate for English and Hindi. Reading estimate for Andhra Pradesh, India includes an overall estimate for English, Hindi and Telugu. Reading estimate for Bogota, Colombia is for Spanish. Overall effect size for programs with Bogota, Columbia removed is 0.03 (-0.01, 0.07) for three years of treatment and 0.25 (0.21, 0.29) for four or more years of treatment. 0.06 (-0.11, 0.23) -0.54 (-0.62, -0.46) 0.14 (0.01, 0.27) 0.16 (0.01, 0.31) 0.07 (0.02, 0.11) 0.11 (0.01, 0.20) 0.13 (0.02, 0.24) 0.01 (-0.21, 0.23) -0.02 (-0.05, 0.02) 0.12 (-0.10, 0.34) 0.23 (0.08, 0.37) -0.34 (-0.44, -0.23) -0.10 (-0.17, -0.03) -0.04 (-0.10, 0.02) 0.01 (-0.09, 0.11) 0.12 (0.02, 0.22) 0.09 (-0.10, 0.29) -0.04 (-0.07, -0.01) 0.03 (-0.07, 0.13) 0.04 (-0.02, 0.10) 0.12 (0.01, 0.24) 0.23 (-0.05, 0.50) 0.01 (-0.28, 0.30) 0.04 (-0.12, 0.19) 0.05 (0.01, 0.10) -0.06 (-0.13, 0.01) 0.80 (0.73, 0.87) 0.49 (0.04, 0.94) 0.03 (-0.08, 0.14) 0.33 (0.28, 0.37)