Education Commons^™

Who Chooses In The Hartford Region? Report 2: A Statistical Analysis Of Regional School Choice Office Applicants And Non-Applicants Among Hartford And Suburban-Resident Students In The Spring 2013 Lottery, Jack Dougherty, Diane Zannoni, Julio Franco, Stephen Spirou, Segun Ajayi, Brian Love, Elie Vered

Papers and Publications

Which Hartford and suburban families were more (or less) likely to apply to the Regional School Choice Office for public school choice options such as interdistrict magnet schools, and how do these families vary by student characteristics & achievement, school composition, and neighborhood/town demographics? Report 2 offers a statistical analysis of 17,710 applicants to the Spring 2013 RSCO lottery, matched to a broader pool of over 170,000 potential applicants from the RSCO transportation region in the Public School Information System (PSIS) database.

Overall, this report expands on our prior finding that in Report 1 that participation in the RSCO application …

A Survey Of The Factors Influencing Parents In Michigan To Select Full-Time Cyber Learning For Their Children In Grades K-6, John A. Chandler

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

School choice is a long-standing tradition in the United States. New to the options available to K-12 parents are full-time virtual schools, and this option is an even more recent development for Grades K-6 parents. Very little research exists on why parents are choosing full-time virtual education for their school-aged children, and almost no research exists on why parents of younger children (Grades K-6) are choosing this option. This descriptive, exploratory study sought to answer the following research questions: (1) What factors led parents to enroll their elementary students in a full-time cyber school? (2) Were these factors attributable to …

Mothers Who Choose Traditional Public Education In Times Of Economic Stress, Criticism, And District Reform, Brian W. Davis

Dissertations

As districts attempt to achieve higher accountability for student results while making complex decisions to balance budgets, it has become increasingly more common to restructure or reorganize educational delivery systems in ways that affect children and their families. Understanding how families and, in particular, mothers translate their experiences with structural and other changes enacted by the schools serving their children can assist in defining a new strategic direction of renewal, growth, and revitalization.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of 18 mothers, and their children, who were participants in multiple school reform initiatives in an …

The Establishment Clause, School Choice, And The Future Of Catholic Education, Matthew P. Cunningham

Journal of Catholic Education

This article reviews several recent court cases at the federal and state levels related to school choice initiatives in the United States. Through this review, the article sheds light on the enduring question of whether these programs are unlawful bonds between church and state. The review includes details about choice programs that exist (or have existed in the past) in the states where the cases originated: Ohio, Washington, Indiana, Arizona, and Colorado. Following this review, the article examines relevant, large-scale evaluations of choice programs and concludes with a discussion of the place of Catholic education in the school choice movement.

Spiral Of Decline Or “Beacon Of Hope:” Stories Of School Choice In A Dual Language School, Timothy Pearson, Jennifer R. Wolgemuth, Soria Elizabeth Colomer

Educational and Psychological Studies Faculty Publications

Public schools in some areas of the U.S. are as segregated as they were prior to court-ordered busing, in part due to school choice policies that appear to exacerbate extant segregation. In particular, Latina/o students are increasingly isolated in schools characterized as being in cycles of decline. Our case study of one such school is based on a reanalysis of interview, focus group, and survey data from three research and evaluation projects. We constructed accounts of parents’ decisions to leave and remain at Martinez Elementary, a segregated dual language school experiencing increases in Latina/o and low socio-economic student enrollment and …

Equal Educational Opportunity And Constitutional Theory: Preliminary Thoughts On The Role Of School Choice And The Autonomy Principle, Michael Heise

Michael Heise

Inadequate schools impede America's long-standing quest for greater equal educational opportunity. The equal educational opportunity doctrine, traditionally moored in terms of race, has expanded to include notions of educational adequacy. Educational adequacy is frequently construed in terms of educational spending and framed in terms largely incident to constitutional litigation. This paper explores the potential intersections of the school choice and school finance movements, particularly as they relate to litigation and policy. The paper argues that school choice policies constitute a viable remedy for successful school finance litigation and form a remedy that simultaneously advances individual autonomy, one critical constitutional principle.

Impacts Of Public School Choice Act Of 2013, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

The Public School Choice Act of 2013 (Act 1227) allows students to transfer to a nonresident district. Previous school choice law restrictions based on race, were removed in the new law. As a result, concerns have been raised about the possible negative impacts of choice on districts’ racial balance. This brief addresses these concerns by examining the impact of the Public School Choice Act of 2013 on district enrollment and racial integration.

Impact Of Charter School Attendance On Student Achievement In Michigan, Randall W. Eberts, Kevin Hollenbeck

Randall W. Eberts

Proponents of school reform have argued that charter schools and vouchers can provide adequate market pressure to improve the performance of traditional public schools. While the number of charter schools and student enrollment have burgeoned, relatively little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. Proponents of charter schools suggest a direct effect on student achievement through the restructuring of teaching and learning processes and an indirect effect through peer effects on learning and through the market forces of competition. Of course, competitive pressures may result in higher achievement in traditional public schools as well. This paper focuses …

An Examination Of Student Achievement In Michigan Charter Schools, Randall W. Eberts, Kevin Hollenbeck

Randall W. Eberts

Since their inception in 1991, the number of and the student enrollment in charter school have burgeoned. However, little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. Proponents hypothesize direct and indirect positive impacts of charter schools on student achievement. The direct effect is through the restructuring of teaching and learning processes. The indirect effect operates through peer effects on learning and through the market forces of competition. This paper focuses on student achievement in charter schools in Michigan. The analyses presented here suggest that students attending charter schools in Michigan are not reaching the same levels of …

Impact Of Charter School Attendance On Student Achievement In Michigan, Randall W. Eberts, Kevin Hollenbeck

Kevin Hollenbeck

Proponents of school reform have argued that charter schools and vouchers can provide adequate market pressure to improve the performance of traditional public schools. While the number of charter schools and student enrollment have burgeoned, relatively little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. Proponents of charter schools suggest a direct effect on student achievement through the restructuring of teaching and learning processes and an indirect effect through peer effects on learning and through the market forces of competition. Of course, competitive pressures may result in higher achievement in traditional public schools as well. This paper focuses …

An Examination Of Student Achievement In Michigan Charter Schools, Randall W. Eberts, Kevin Hollenbeck

Kevin Hollenbeck

Since their inception in 1991, the number of and the student enrollment in charter school have burgeoned. However, little attention has been paid to their effects on student achievement. Proponents hypothesize direct and indirect positive impacts of charter schools on student achievement. The direct effect is through the restructuring of teaching and learning processes. The indirect effect operates through peer effects on learning and through the market forces of competition. This paper focuses on student achievement in charter schools in Michigan. The analyses presented here suggest that students attending charter schools in Michigan are not reaching the same levels of …