Abstract: Now that the US Supreme Court has declared school voucher programs constitutional, the question of what the effects of school choice will be becomes especially pressing. Contributors to this volume draw on state-of-the-art economic methods to investigate how school choice affects a wide range of issues. Combining the results of empirical research with analyses of the basic economic forces underlying local educational markets, this book presents evidence concerning the impact of school choice on student achievement, school productivity, teachers, and special education. It also tackles difficult questions such as whether school choice affects where people decide to live and how choice can be integrated into a system of school financing that gives children from different backgrounds equal access to resources. Contributors discuss the latest findings on Florida's school choice program as well as voucher programs and charter schools in several other states. Revealing the promise of school choice, this book also examines its pitfalls and shows how to design programs that avoid them.

Abstract: While the merits of vouchers have been the subject of intense public debate in recent years, there has been very little available evidence upon which to gauge their efficacy. The first publicly funded voucher plan involving private schools wasn't established until 1990 in Milwaukee; before then, the only data on school choice came from a small, poorly designed program in California. Voucher programs grew dramatically in the latter half of the 1990s. In 2000, about 60,000 students participated in seventy-one programs, most privately funded. This growth is now providing researchers with the ability to measure the impact of vouchers for the first time in multiple cities. The Education Gap is the first book to gather a significant body of data on vouchers in multiple locations, and it reveals startling new evidence that voucher programs benefit African-American students more than participants from other ethnic groups. To explain this phenomenon, the authors point out that residential selection is the most common form of school choice available in American public education today. Since this process is likely to leave African Americans in the worst public schools, new forms of choice directed toward low-income families are most likely to benefit black students. The authors examine the effects of school vouchers on test scores, parental satisfaction, parent-school communications, and political tolerance among students and parents participating in four pilot programs in New York City; Dayton, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; the Edgewood school district in San Antonio; and a program that offered vouchers to 40,000 low-income families nationwide. Though the programs operated in a wide variety of settings, the findings were surprisingly consistent. After two years, African-American students who used vouchers to switch from public to private schools scored substantially better on math and reading tests. By contrast, no significant positive effects on the test scores of other ethnic groups were detected. While parents in all ethnic groups were generally more supportive of private education, African-American parents expressed particularly high enthusiasm for the private schools their children attended. The authors also report information on the kinds of students and families who take advantage of a voucher opportunity, allowing them to seewhether only the i??degreebest and brightesti??i?? public school students were able to take advantage of school voucher programs. The results documented in The Education Gap shed new light on the effects of school vouchers on students in poor, urban environments. This information will be important to policymakers, scholars, and citizens are they continue to search for ways to improve education in urban areas.

Abstract: Charter schools elevate choice and competition to foster educational innovations. Indeed, these market-style mechanisms are intended to challenge standardized practices associated with district administration of schools. However, a comprehensive review of practices in charter schools indicates that, although some organizational innovations are evident, classroom strategies tend toward the familiar. Drawing on organizational and economic theory, this article considers the forces shaping educational innovation in market-oriented reforms. Although reformers assume that competition and choice necessarily lead to innovations within schools, a more complex examination of competitive institutional environments suggests that mechanisms employed by reformers may actually undercut their intended purposes. The discussion highlights the potential for choice and competition to constrain opportunities for educational innovation and to impose pedagogical and curricular conformity.

Abstract: Student mobility-students making nonpromotional school changes-is widespread in many schools and districts throughout the United States. Mobility not only can harm the students who change schools, it can also harm the classrooms and schools they attend. This article examines the incidence, causes, and consequences of student mobility in the United States. Research reveals that the causes and consequences of mobility are more complicated than many people assume. The final part of the article discusses what parents, schools, districts, and policymakers can do to address this growing educational problem. [S]ince I've been here it's well over 800 students from July through December who have left. They have been replaced by 800 more coming in. We're about 3800 as far as active students right now . . . so you're constantly dealing with 1000 students leaving, 1000 students coming in. (Principal from California high school, as quoted in Rumberger, Larson, Ream, & Palardy, 1999, p. 29) Student mobility is widespread in many schools and districts through the United States. Student mobility is the practice of students making nonpromotional school changes, often during the school year. Mobility not only can harm the students who change schools, it can also harm the classrooms and schools they attend. Many educators believe that student mobility is an inevitable result of students changing residences. Indeed, the majority of student mobility in the United States is a result of families changing residences. But not all student mobility is the result of residential mobility, particularly at the high school level. Schools contribute to mobility due to such things as overcrowding, class size reduction, suspension and expulsion policies, school choice, and the general academic and social climate. Schools can also help address the problem by both reducing unnecessary mobility and mitigating its harmful effects. This article examines the issue of student mobility. It first examines data on the incidence of student mobility in the United States. It then reviews the research literature on the social and academic consequences of mobility for both students and schools. Next, it reviews the research literature on the causes of mobility. Finally, it discusses what parents, schools, districts, and policymakers can do to address this growing educational problem. THE INCIDENCE OF STUDENT MOBILITY Student mobility is pervasive in the United States. According to data collected through the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1998 Math Assessment, 34% of 4th graders, 21% of 8th graders, and 10% of 12th graders changed schools at least once in the previous two years (see Figure 1). The incidence of student mobility varies by race, ethnicity, and family income. For example, data from the 1998 NAEP show that: (a) 41% of Hispanic American and 45% of Black fourth-grade students changed schools in the last two years, compared to 27% of White and 33% of Asian American fourth-grade students; and (b) 43% of fourth-grade students who were eligible for the national school lunch program (i.e., low-income students) changed schools in the last two years, compared to 26% who were not eligible (U.S. Department of Education, 2002). The incidence of student mobility is even higher when viewed over a student's entire elementary and secondary career. Based on data from a national longitudinal study of a cohort of eighth graders in the United States, more students made nonpromotional school changes during their elementary and secondary school careers than remained in a stable pattern of attending a single elementary, middle, and high school (Rumberger et al., 1999, p. 23). School changes were more common during elementary school than during secondary school. In fact, mobility is the norm during elementary school, while it is the exception during high school. Student mobility not only varies widely among students, but also among schools. …

Abstract: Little is known about the influence of school choice programs on race and economic segregation in public schools. Studies of housing segregation suggest that small differences in the preferences of particular race or socioeconomic groups have the potential to produce large-scale patterns of segregation. In this study, I raise three questions regarding the link between individual choice and educational segregation: first, are the school choices of higher status families driven by a desire to avoid schools populated by students they consider to be of lower race or class status? Second, can other school features, such as safety, appearance, and educational quality, explain apparent raceor class-based choices? Third, can families' choices of schools be linked directly with segregation patterns independent of school district policies that may interfere with (or galvanize) the ability of people to exercise their choices? To answer these questions, I analyze magnet school application data from a large city to explore the choices of families for schools that vary in racial and economic composition. Findings show that white families avoid schools with higher percentages of non-white students. The tendency of white families to avoid schools with higher percentages of non-whites cannot be accounted for by other school characteristics such as test scores, safety, or poverty rates. I also find that wealthier families avoid schools with higher poverty rates. The choices of white and wealthier students lead to increased racial and economic segregation in the neighborhood schools that these students leave. Moreover, the link between choice and segregation cannot be explained by school district policies. Findings suggest that laissez faire school choice policies, which allow the unfettered movement of children in and out of schools, may further deteriorate the educational conditions for disadvantaged students left behind in local public schools.

Abstract: Summary The most frequently asked questions about school choice are: Do public schools respond constructively to competition induced by school choice, by raising their own productivity? Does students’ achievement rise when they attend voucher or charter schools? Do voucher and charter schools end up with a selection of the better students (“cream-skim”)? I review the evidence on these questions from the United States, relying primarily on recent policy experiments. Public schools do respond constructively to competition, by raising their achievement and productivity. The best studies on this question examine the introduction of choice programs that have been sufficiently large and long-lived to produce competition. Students’ achievement generally does rise when they attend voucher or charter schools. The best studies on this question use, as a control group, students who are randomized out of choice programs. Not only do currently enacted voucher and charter school programs not cream-skim; they disproportionately attract students who were performing badly in their regular public schools. This confirms what theory predicts: there are no general results on the sorting consequences of school choice. The sorting consequences of a school choice plan depend strongly on its design.

Abstract: The precarious state of the educational system in the inner cities of the United States, as well as its potential causes and solutions, have been popular topics of debate in recent years. Part of the difficulty in resolving this debate is the lack of solid empirical evidence regarding the true impact of educational initiatives. The efficacy of so-called “school choice” programs has been a particularly contentious issue. A current multimillion dollar program, the School Choice Scholarship Foundation Program in New York, randomized the distribution of vouchers in an attempt to shed some light on this issue. This is an important time for school choice, because on June 27, 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a voucher program in Cleveland that provides scholarships both to secular and religious private schools. Although this study benefits immensely from a randomized design, it suffers from complications common to such research with human subjects: noncompliance with assigned “treatmen...

Abstract: A school that is more productive is one that produces higher achievement in its pupils for each dollar it spends. In this paper, I comprehensively review how school choice might affect productivity. I begin by describing the importance of school productivity, then explain the economic logic that suggests that choice will affect productivity, and finish by presenting much of the available evidence on school choice and school productivity. The most intriguing evidence comes from three important, recent choice reforms: vouchers in Milwaukee, charter schools in Michigan, and charter schools in Arizona. I show that public school students' achievement rose significantly and rapidly in response to competition, under each of the three reforms. Public school spending was unaffected, so the productivity of public schools rose, dramatically in the case in Milwaukee.

Abstract: The analyses presented here illuminate school choice policies as a critical development in education, noting both similarities and differences across countries. This volume broadens our understanding of school choice on the world stage while exploring implications for education policy in the US.

Abstract: Segregation patterns in the nation's charter schools are studied. After reviewing state charter legislation that directly addresses issues of racial and ethnic balance of student enrollment, we briefly examine the racial composition and segregation of the charter school population nationally. School-level analyses, aggregated by state constitute the primary method of studying segregation in charter schools. First, we look at racial composition and segregation of charter schools by state. Then, we consider the differences in segregation between non-charter public schools (or simply "public schools" for convenience) and charter schools, as well as segregation within the charter school sector. We conclude with a discussion of the article's findings and recommendations to promote further racial equity in this growing sector of public schools.

Abstract: The notion that free choice is welfare-enhancing is one of the foundations of modern, market-oriented societies. This view is prominent in the school choice debate, where there is a widespread perception that public schools are inefficient local monopolies, and that the quality of education would improve dramatically if only parents were allowed to freely choose between schools. For example, in recent work Hoxby (2001) asks \\what is the range of productivity over which choice could cause productivity to vary? Recent history suggests that school productivity could be much higher than it is now - 60 to 70 percent higher." Two arguments underlie the view that choice would improve the quality of education. First, there is a widely-held belief that private schools are better than public schools. Al- though most research on this is hampered by selection issues, recent work that exploits quasi-experiments with vouchers find some evidence that children benefit from attending private schools.1 The implication is that unrestricted choice could raise students' achievement merely by facilitating their transfer to the private sector. A second, perhaps even more compelling argument for choice comes from our instinct that people and organizations respond to incentives. Therefore, by correctly aligning the incentives public schools face, choice would force their ossified bureaucracies to improve.

Abstract: This paper attempts to retheorize school `choice'; to begin to unpack dominant contemporary misconceptions through an examination of the `choices' available to 454 inner city 10 and 11 year-olds en...

Abstract: In this timely book, Rosemary Salomone offers a reasoned educational and legal argument supporting single-sex education as an alternative to coeducation, particularly in the case of disadvantaged minority students. "A carefully organized, often lively ...compendium of everything that matters in the debate: how boys and girls do in classes and on tests, their differing learning styles, and the legal tussles."--Timothy A. Hacsi, New York Times "Smart, objective, evenhanded. Must reading in this important debate."--Susan Estrich, University of Southern California Law School "Everyone concerned about inequalities in our schools and our society should want to read it."--Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement (U.K.) "If you have time for only one book and you really want to be informed about single-sex education, then make it Same, Different, Equal."--John Borst, Education Today "The single best book I have read about single-sex education. A must-read for every educator who is concerned about the different outcomes for boys and girls in school."--Michael Thompson, Ph.D, coauthor of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

Abstract: Charter schools have become an increasingly significant aspect of the educational landscape. After a decade of implementation and research, this article returns to some of the original ideas underlying charter schools—including autonomy, accountability, and performance outcomes—to assess what progress has been made and what is still unknown. Although some successes are evident, there is still much to learn about the quality of charter schools and the experiences of charter school stakeholders. There is strong evidence that parents and students who remain in charter schools are satisfied and that charter schools are more autonomous than other public schools. But the jury is still out on some of the most important questions, including those about innovation, accountability, equity, and outcomes. This article provides a framework for examining research on charter schools and some guiding questions for future work.

Abstract: Each chapter begins with an introduction and concludes with â Chapter Discussion Questions,â â Chapter Assignments and Activities,â â Seminal Works,â and â References.â Foreword (by James G. Cibulka). Preface. Dedication. I. EDUCATION POLICY: THEORIES AND CONCEPTS. 1. Introduction. Policy Defined. Formation of a Field: Policy Studies. Formation of a Sub-Field: Policy Studies in Education. Emerging Research Directions: Incorporating History into Education. Policy Studies. Emerging Research Directions: Viewing Policy Through Multiple Lenses. Theories of Education Policymaking: An Overview. A Call for Theoretical Pluralism. Structure of the Book. 2. Theories of Education Policymaking. Policy Vignette. Positivist Theories of Policymaking in Education. Systems Theory. Shortcomings of Systems Theory. Advocacy Coalition and Interest Group Models. Shortcomings of Neo-Pluralist Advocacy Coalition and Interest Group Theories. Neo-Institutional Theory. Shortcomings of Neo-Institutional Theory. Interpretivist Theories of Policymaking in Education. Critical Theory. Feminist Theory. Postmodernism. Ideological Perspectives: From Left to Right. Shortcomings of Interpretivist Theories of Policymaking. A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Policymaking in Education. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Ethics and Social Justice: The Core of the Four-Dimensional Framework. Barriers to Ethical Considerations in Education Policy. Incorporating Ethics and Social Justice into Education Policy Studies. II. THE POLICYMAKING PROCESS. 3. The Birth of Policy: Problem Definition, Agenda Setting, and Policy Formulation. Policy Vignette: The Problem of Defining Desegregation. Problem Definition. Conditions and Problems. Agenda Setting. The Role of the Media. Policy Vignette: Agenda Setting, Sputnik, and Education Policy. The Power of Language in Problem Definition and Agenda Setting. Policy Vignette: Defining Pathology: Who's At-Risk? The Role of Political Culture in Agenda Setting. The Normative Dimension. Institutional Effects on Agenda Setting. The Structural and Technical Dimensions. Interest Groups and Policy Formulation. The Constituentive Dimension. 4. Education Policy Implementation. Stages of Education Policy Implementation Research. Policy Implementation in Loosely Coupled Systems. Street Level Bureaucrats. Policy Vignette: Implementing ESEA. Successful Policy Implementation. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Spillover Effects. Conclusion. 5. Using Evaluation to Improve Education. Trends Toward Better Policy Evaluation. The Policy Evaluation Process. Defining Policy Evaluation. Four Dimensions of Policy Evaluation. Policy Vignette: Evaluating Head Start. Policy Vignette: Evaluating Title I/Chapter I. History of Policy Analysis and Evaluation. Normative Dimension. Post-Positivism or Science? Philosophical Basis of Policy Evaluation. Structural Dimension. Federal Evaluation: A View from the Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Overcoming Barriers to Good Policy Evaluation. Improving Education Policy Evaluation. Effects of Improved Policy Evaluation in Education. III. EDUCATION POLICY AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: APPLICATIONS AND CASES. 6. Better Governance, Better Schools: School Governance and Policy in Education. The General Concept of Governance. Historical Foundations of Governance. Theoretical Foundations of Governance. Policy Vignette: Book Banning, Censorship, and Governance. Dimensional Foundations of Governance. Federalism. Viewing Educational Governance Through Different Policy Lenses. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Final Thoughts. 7. Better Policies for Improved Curriculum, Standards, and Testing. Normative Dimension. Compulsory Education Policies. Home Schooling: A More Recent Case. Types of Curriculum. Structural Dimension. The Case of California's Proposition 227. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Academic Standards. Test Outcomes. Making Better Curriculum Policies. Chapter Assignments and Activities. Seminal Works. References. 8. Accountability and School Improvement. Accountability in Education: A Brief History. The Role of the Federal Government. State Accountability Systems. Policy Vignette: Accountability Policy in North Carolina. Policy Vignette: Milwaukee's Three-Tiered Accountability System. Recent Trends in Accountability. The Value-Added Approach. State Takeovers. Public School Choice. Viewing Accountability Through Different Policy Lenses. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. 9. Improving Teacher Personnel Policies: Better Teachers, Better Schools. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Policy Vignette: New York Teacher Preparation Reforms. Technical Dimension. Teacher Education Policy Trends. Teacher Union Policies. Policy Vignette: Yonkers, New York, Teachers' Strike. Law and Policy. Teacher Preparation Policies. Teacher Policies Reviewed. 10. School Finance and Equity: Better Policies, Better Use of Resources. Normative Dimension. Policy Biography: Theodore W. Schultz. Structural Dimension. The States Step In. Policy Biography: Ellwood P. Cubberley. Constituentive Dimension. Defining Equity. Horizontal Equity. Vertical Equity. Vertical and Horizontal Equity Together. Technical Dimension. Does Money Matter? Tracking Money. Policy in Practice: Western School District. School Outliers. Practical Issues: Improving School Productivity. Future of Education Resource Policies. 11. Charter School Policy. Equity Issues: Examining the Policy Differences in State Charter School Laws. Equity in Policy Implementation. Policy Vignette: Do Charter Schools Increase Segregation? Policy Vignette: Do Charter Schools Serve Special Education and Limited English Proficient Students? Policy Vignette: Teacher Certification, Experience, and Staffing. Oversight and Accountability. Evaluating Charter School Performance. Barriers to Expansion. Viewing Charter School Accountability Through Different Policy Lenses. Normative Dimension. Structural Dimension. Constituentive Dimension. Technical Dimension. Conclusion. 12. Future Policies, Better Schools. Policy Vignette: â No Child Left Behind Actâ of 2002. Normative Dimension. Structural and Constituentive Dimensions. Technical Dimension. Conclusion. References. Index. Biography of Authors.

Abstract: such factors as peers and parents, class size and teacher quality, competition and bureaucracy, unionization and curriculum design remains hotly debated, and the impact of increased choice on many of these elements of school quality is still controversial. Yet we do have decades of experience with school choice of a kind somewhat different from what is pondered in many choice-based policy proposals, and it is within this current system of school choice that at least some agreement can be found. While it may therefore be difficult to fully predict the impact of new choice-based initiatives, information arising from the choices made by households in the current system may yield important evidence regarding some neglected empirical issues that are critical for policy makers to consider.

Abstract: SCHOOLS, VOUCHERS, AND THE AMERICAN PUBLIC. MOE, T.M. (2001) WASHINGTON, D.C.: THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION. In Schools, Vouchers, and the American Public, Terry Moe, professor of political science at Stanford University, provides a comprehensive examination of the school voucher issue by not only describing what the American public thinks about vouchers, but also analyzing why they think that way and how their opinions are likely to influence the politics that shapes public policy in American education. The book includes a thorough discussion of his findings from an extensive, nationally representative survey of 4,700 adults conducted in 1995 regarding school choice and vouchers. Moe presents the reader with background information regarding vouchers, and compares and contrasts the results of his study with other research on vouchers such as the PDK polls, Gallup polls, and Public Agenda's 1999 study-On Thin Ice. A self-described supporter of vouchers, Moe successfully accomplishes his intention of "laying out the truth as I know it" by analyzing public opinion and explaining how these findings can be used by both voucher opponents and proponents in mobilizing their respective constituents to block or advance public policy addressing vouchers. Similar to other studies, Moe's findings indicate that the American public is generally satisfied with its public schools. There is a widespread "public school ideology" which exists across advantaged and disadvantaged populations which will be difficult to overcome by voucher enthusiasts. Additionally, only 35% of the respondents say they have heard of the voucher concept, which clearly presents a significant challenge for voucher supporters: creating and mobilizing an informed public. Moe contends that while there seems to be a lack of information about vouchers, his findings indicate that people do have substance to the way they think about vouchers. According to Moe, opportunities for increasing support for vouchers may be found among those dissatisfied with public schools on the grounds of social inequity, moral or religious ideology, parental influence, and low quality. While many low income parents and people in disadvantaged districts are becoming less satisfied with low quality schools, Moe surprisingly presents evidence that people with low expectations coupled with less education tend to continue to be somewhat satisfied with low quality schools. However, Moe finds an increased interest in "going private" among those who are less advantaged, and notes a shift among parents and non-parents toward viewing private schools as having positive social consequences and as being in the public's best interests. From his findings and careful analysis, Moe concludes that vouchers appear to have the greatest appeal to those attracted to private schools, those concerned about diversity and social equity, the less advantaged, Catholics, born-again Christians, informed Republicans, and uninformed Democrats. The question remains: Can voucher proponents convert this appeal across very diverse groups into actual political support? In conclusion, Moe explains how the defeats in the California and Michigan voucher initiatives prove that "the opponent has the advantage" and that for vouchers, "initiatives are no-win propositions. …

Abstract: We live, as some theorists put it, in a 'risk society'. Risks are diverse and new forms are constantly arising. There is an 'over-production' of risk. We face the brittle uncertainties of individual self-management, as Beck sees it, alone and 'fragmented across (life) phases, space and time' (1997, p. 26). This is a bleak and elemental social world. This paper takes a rather different view of risk, as having both collective and divisive dynamics and effects. It offers not so much an alternative view as one that is re-socialised. Focusing on middle class families and the 'risks' of school choice some key features of the 'prudentialist' risk management regime extant in the UK are examined. That is, those 'definite social exertions' that middle class families must make on their own part or face the very real prospect of generational decline are considered. Risks are perceived to arise from the engagements between the family and the education marketplace, and are embedded in the paradox wherein society becomes structurally more meritocratic but processually less so, as the middle class work harder to maintain their advantages in the new conditions of choice and competition in education. The paper is peppered with extracts from interviews with middle-class parents. These serve for illustration and discussion.

Abstract: The article examines school choice in the context of the Finnish, publicly owned and governed comprehensive school system, the ‘named public‐school markets’, and compares findings to similar studies done in other countries. Parental choice is used in addition to traditional catchment areas and has now settled in the educational policy of big cities since its introduction in Finland in the mid 1990s. The focus of this article is on the extent and direction of pupils' preferences between the schools in relation to the characteristics of the schools in order to understand what kind of patterns have been formed along with the school choice. At the turn of the year 2000, half of the age group transferring to the 7th grade applied for a place in an other than catchment area school in the capital city, and on average one‐third of those in the other four big cities. The local public school markets touched every school in the urban areas. The schools were divided into popular, rejected, and balanced schools on the...

Abstract: In 1981, Chile introduced nationwide school choice by providing vouchers to any student wishing to attend private school. As a result, more than 1,000 private schools entered the market, and the private enrollment rate increased by 20 percentage points, with greater impacts in larger, more urban, and wealthier communities. We use this differential impact to measure the effects of unrestricted choice on educational outcomes. Using panel data for about 150 municipalities, we find no evidence that choice improved average educational outcomes as measured by test scores, repetition rates, and years of schooling. However, we find evidence that the voucher program led to increased sorting, as the best' public school students left for the private sector.

Abstract: Kenya's education system blends substantial centralization with elements of local control and school choice. This paper argues that the system creates incentives for local communities to build too many small schools; to spend too much on teachers relative to non-teacher inputs; and to set school fees that exceed those preferred by the median voter and prevent many children from attending school. Moreover, the system renders the incentive effects of school choice counterproductive by undermining the tendency for pupils to switch into the schools with the best headmasters. A randomized evaluation of a program operated by a non-profit organization suggests that budget-neutral reductions in the cost of attending school and increases in non-teacher inputs, financed by increases in class size, would greatly reduce dropout rates without reducing test scores. Moreover, evidence based on transfers into and out of program schools suggests that the population would prefer such a reallocation of expenditures.

Abstract: Greater competition in schooling markets seems to promote higher levels of academic attainment, but so does increased co-operation within and between schools. School choice reforms have a tendency to reinforce local schooling hierarchies and increase differences in the mean pupils' academic attainment between schools. In England, the processes causing these effects have been strengthened by the introduction of school performance tables. Beacon Schools, Education Action Zones, and the current specialist schools initiative seek to alter the mix of competition and co-operation within local schooling markets. Co-opetition, competing in some markets and co-operating in others, is the dominant strategy in the business sector, but policy-makers have been slow to recognize the need to promote such behaviour in education. The English quasi-market processes still reward schools inappropriately and discourage mutually beneficial co-operation between schools.

Abstract: The effect of a general school choice reform on student performance is studied in a Swedish institutional setting. A rich set of individual level data allows estimation of a value added specificati ...

Abstract: In this day of high-stakes testing, educators are eager and even anxious to find new policies, instructional methods, and educational practices to improve academic performance. In their search they have reexamined such policies as teacher certification, school choice, grade retention, summer school, and the latest pedagogies for teaching particular academic subjects. Increasingly, however, educators and policymakers are also discovering the importance of social and emotional variables for academic performance and achievement. Consequently, they are turning their attention to methods and practices that foster students’ social and emotional development. Acknowledging the importance of social and emotional variables is one thing. Really understanding their critical role and developing social and emotional skills among students are different matters. What teacher has not felt the frustration of working with a capable student who has neither the motivation nor the perseverance to perform to capacity? What teacher has not felt that he or she could teach better, and his or her students learn better, in caring, supportive school and classroom environments? Teachers have long recognized, and a body of research now corroborates, that facilitating student achievement means addressing barriers to learning. Many of these barriers are social and emotional.

Abstract: DOCUMENT RESUME

Abstract: Chapter 1: Religion and Education, 1607-1800. Chapter 2: Religion and Education, 1801-1962. Chapter 3: The Removal of Prayer from the Schools and the Aftermath, 1962-Present. Chapter 4: A History of the Study of Religion, Education, and Academic Success. Chapter 5: The Impact of Religious Schools and Religious Commitment on Academic Achievement. Chapter 6: Religious Education and Religious Commitment among Minority Students. Chapter 7: The Effects of Religious Schools and Religious Commitment on School Behavior and Diligence. Chapter 8: The Effects of Religious Schools and Religious Commitment on Problem Behavior School Behavior and Diligence. Chapter 9: Potential Reasons for the Impact of Religious Schools. Chapter 10: Issues Regarding School Choice. Chapter 11: What Does it all Mean? How Can We Learn from Religious Schools and Religious People?