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In two previous posts, I discussed the fiscal impact of Nevada’s education savings account (ESA) program and how it could help the state with its problem of rising pension costs. Offering teachers pensions is by no means the problem. But most pension systems across the U.S. have been poorly designed from the start, and after […]
Arkansas is on its way to becoming a natural, actual, real, authentical educational choice lovin’ state. Just like Johnny Cash’s song character Joe Bean, I’ve never been to Arkansas. Growing up, my limited knowledge of Arkansas centered on a sunglasses-wearing, saxophone-blowing Bill Clinton. However, I got older and learned more about the Natural State, especially […]
A recent study led by Northwestern economist David Figlio on Ohio’s Educational Choice Scholarship Program is a case of good news and bad news. To be sure, it provides an occasion to celebrate the positive findings. But the less favorable results should cause us to pause and consider ways to strengthen school voucher policy. This […]
The debate about school choice is often animated in the United States, but critics of the idea may be surprised to learn that school voucher programs are quite common in the rest of the economically developed world. Twenty-five Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, a club of mostly wealthy nations, have vouchers or […]
To maintain and grow enrollment, school leaders need to know whether parents are satisfied with the education their children are receiving and the learning environment in which it takes place. Studying parent satisfaction is by no means new; it is often an included outcome in a variety of school choice research as a secondary outcome.1 This […]
School choice opponents have no shortage of unfounded arguments aimed at blocking parents from choosing the best educational fit for their own kids. One of their favorite talking points is that researchers “cherry-pick” data-driven reports that highlight only the most positive effects from school choice. Time and again, the Friedman Foundation and other choice advocates […]
As educational choice grows, so does the evidence proving it works. In today’s release of the fourth edition of a Friedman Foundation flagship report—A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice—author Dr. Greg Forster says, “Twenty years ago, before this body of evidence existed, there was some excuse for making policy based on speculation, […]
This is the second in a two-part series on Nevada’s fiscal climate and educational choice. In the first part of our series, we examined the fiscal effect of Nevada’s educational savings account (ESA) program, finding that schools could save almost $700,000 for every $1 million spent funding ESAs for Nevada students. This is a clear […]
If you have ever seen a sentence on the Friedman Foundation website along the lines of “You Might Be Eligible For [a specific education savings account program],” or “You Might Not Be Eligible For [a specific voucher program],” then you have probably taken an educational choice eligibility test. The easier to design eligibility tests ask […]
It’s time to stop treating the problem of educational productivity as a grinding, eat-your-broccoli exercise. It’s time to start treating it as an opportunity for innovation and accelerating progress. – Former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, November 17, 2010 States have been charged with doing more with less in recent years, a state of affairs […]