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Tell me if you’ve heard this chestnut before: “We can’t let parents choose their child’s school because they don’t have enough information to make a good choice.” Lord knows I have. Like many old adages that have a kernel of truth suffocating under a pile of manure, this statement does have some merit. Insofar as […]
As the school choice debate ramps up around the country, one of the most commonly used phrases by choice opponents, and some advocates, is that voucher schools are “unaccountable.” This conceptualization stems from the fact that most voucher programs face different accountability regulations than traditional public schools, some of which may be less transparent. On […]
Opponents of educational choice worry that empowering parents and students to attend private schools will lead to a Wild West of schools wrought with teachers who lack “certification,” a puzzling position to take considering public schools are increasing their employment of “uncertified” teachers. Take Oklahoma as one example. With the passage of Senate Bill 498 […]
Tulane University Professor Douglas N. Harris gets the research wrong in his response to a Wall Street Journal editorial praising school choice. The Journal referenced the fourth edition of my A Win-Win Solution report, which reviews the empirical research on school choice programs. Harris mischaracterizes the research and my report. This iteration of Win-Win reviews […]
The Institute of Education Science (IES) recently released a report that analyzed first-year outcomes for students enrolling in D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) since its 2011 reauthorization. The OSP provides students from low-income families in D.C. with scholarships worth up to $8,452 for K–8 students and $12,679 for high school students. The IES research team […]
“There is no conclusive evidence that the [DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP)] affected student achievement.” This one statement, taken from a 214-page government report for which one of us (Wolf) was lead author, is often treated as the first, last and only word on the effectiveness of our nation’s only federally-sponsored private school choice program. […]
This post originally appeared on Jay P. Greene’s Blog. The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the nation’s Secretary of Education is shining a national spotlight on educational choice. It has also drawn attention from school choice skeptics and opponents and a flurry of criticisms about choice with it. A recent report by Halley Potter of […]
A few weeks ago (March 16–18), we attended the Association for Education Finance and Policy’s (AEFP) annual conference in Washington, D.C. AEFP is definitely one of the top conferences in our field. It is a great place to present research and get feedback from some of the top minds in education research. Read on for […]
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and other secular Jewish groups are taking a stand against school vouchers. Given that the explicit purpose of the ADL is to fight anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, they are ostensibly weighing in on this issue because they believe that there is a relationship between public or private schooling and […]
Note: This post was originally published on Education Next. The Century Foundation has published a report by Halley Potter that claims private school choice will increase ethnic segregation in schools. Although the text of the report constantly invokes words like “evidence,” “studies” and “data,” its conclusions are actually defended almost entirely by appeal to a lengthy […]