Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Open Access Articles

The Fiscal Impact Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: 2009 Update, Robert M. Costrell

School Choice Demonstration Project

In February 2008, the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) issued its first report on the fiscal impact of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) on taxpayers in Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin.

Go to article

The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary Of Second Year Reports, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The city of Milwaukee is often called a laboratory for experimentation with parental school choice. Milwaukee is home to the first urban school voucher program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), which has grown over the past 18 years to enroll 19,069 students in 124 different private schools 2007-08. A total of 58 public charter schools operate within the city’s boundaries, enrolling 17,549 students last year. Even students in the Milwaukee Public School (MPS) system have a variety of magnet, community, open enrollment, and even inter-district school choice options available to them, so long as transportation funding holds out. When …

Go to article

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

he District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, passed by Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. As part of this legislation, Congress mandated a rigorous evaluation of the impacts of the Program, now called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). This report presents findings from the evaluation of the impacts 3 years after families who applied were given the option to move from a public school to a participating private school of their choice.

Go to article

The Mpcp Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Second Year Report, John F. Witte, Patrick J. Wolf, Joshua M. Cowen, David J. Fleming, Juanita Lucas-Mclean

School Choice Demonstration Project

This is the second year report in a five-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). This program, which began in 1990, provides government-funded vouchers for low-income children to attend private schools in the City of Milwaukee. The maximum voucher amount in 2007-08 was $6,607, and approximately 20,000 children use a voucher to attend either secular or religious private schools. The MPCP is the oldest and largest urban educational voucher program in the United States. This evaluation was authorized by Wisconsin Act 125 enacted in 2005.

Go to article

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report 2007-08, Nathan L. Gray, Patrick J. Wolf, Laura I. Jensen

School Choice Demonstration Project

With the passage of the 2005 Wisconsin Act 125, private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) are now required to administer a nationally normed standardized test annually in reading, mathematics, and science to their MPCP (a.k.a. “Choice”) students enrolled in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. The law further directs Choice schools to submit copies of the scores from those tests to the School Choice Demonstration Project for processing and reporting to the Legislative Audit Bureau. During the 2007-08 school year, MPCP schools administered either nationally normed tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or …

Go to article

Quality Counts 2009, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

In an attempt to gauge the educational progress of the nation and each state, Education Week has published state report cards since 1997 in its annual Quality Counts series. The 13th annual report — Quality Counts 2009 — was released in early 2009. As for the overall score, Arkansas was one of only ten states in the United States that received a B. Arkansas got the highest possible grade (A+) for financial equity among districts, and its grade for “Transitions and Alignment” — or how well a state’s educational system is coordinated from elementary school to college — was a …

Go to article

Macarthur Park Master Plan, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

Like waterfronts and transit stops, parks leverage value in urban areas. While much recent attention has been given to the signature mega-park, the value of the small-scale neighborhood park in reinventing the city has been overlooked. Once connecting neighborhoods of differing character, and sponsoring more than 80 residential structures along its edges, the historic MacArthur Park at the edge of downtown Little Rock is radically underutilized as an urban neighborhood asset. Severed from its neighborhoods along two edges by interstate construction in the 1960s, this moribund 40-acre municipal park is left with only 16 residential structures along its frontage. The …

Go to article

Family Reflections On The District Of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program: Final Summary Report, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf, Stephen Q. Cornman, Kenann Mckenzie-Thompson, Jonathan Butcher

School Choice Demonstration Project

During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program – the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) - was established. The School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) recognized that publicly-funded school vouchers represent a relatively new and unstudied approach to school choice and education reform. To address this need, the SCDP requested and received funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation to capture the “Parent and Student Voices on the OSP.” A total of 110 families, representing 180 students, that applied during the first two years of the Program volunteered to participate in this study. As the last …

Go to article

Teach A Man: Proactively Battling Food Insecurity By Increasing Access To Local Foods, Christina Fox

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This Chinese proverb has broad application when addressing the issue of food insecurity. It transcends beyond national borders and gender categories. It applies to many men, women, and children who are confronted by food insecurity today in America. Food insecurity is the "limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.

Go to article

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

Testimony to the House and Senate Education Committee in Little Rock

Go to article

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

As part of our effort to monitor K-12 education in Arkansas and provide useful information to all those across the state interested in our schools, this OEP Report on Arkansas Schools provides information on school and student characteristics, the performance of our students on standardized assessments, the achievement gaps between our advantaged and disadvantaged students, and how our students fare when they leave secondary school. Not surprisingly, there is both good news and bad news to be found in the pages that follow.

Go to article

Dollars For Sense: Assessing Achievement Gaps In Arkansas In The Context Of Substantial Funding Increases, Joshua H. Barnett, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

Over the last half century, more than forty states across the nation have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of perceived and real funding gaps between rich and poor districts (Rebell, 2001). Arkansas is one such state, with a long history of school funding battles in the courts. The legal challenges began in 1983, when the Arkansas Supreme Court initially found the state's school funding system unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the state constitution .

Go to article

What Does Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Sarah B. Kent, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

Recently, policymakers at the Arkansas Department of Education were pleased to release the results of the 2008 Benchmark exams, which indicate more Arkansas students are becoming proficient each year. This is good news for Arkansas, as the Benchmark exam is an Arkansas developed exam used to compare student performance to state standards. Nevertheless, it is also important to take note of how Arkansas students perform compared to students across the nation, which is where the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) plays an important role. The NAEP, also known as “the Nation’s Report Card,” allows student performance to be compared …

Go to article

The Forgotten Minority: A Cross-Sectional And Time-Series Analysis Of American Indian/Alaska Native Child Abuse And Neglect, 1993-2003, Linda Kaye Ketcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Very little empirical research has been conducted on child abuse among American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN). This dissertation examines the rate of reported AI/AN child abuse from 1993-2003 for the 20 U. S. states with the largest percentages of AI/AN populations. Research on child abuse and neglect from at least two bodies of literature is examined - one on child abuse in the general population and the other on child abuse among American Indians/Alaskan Natives. Based on SAS output from pooled time series analysis, two tables were created, one for the general population and one for the AI/AN population. The results …

Go to article

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Two Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

The District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003, passed by the Congress in January 2004, established the first federally funded, private school voucher program in the United States. As part of this legislation, the Congress mandated a rigorous evaluation of the impacts of the Program, now called the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). This report presents findings from the evaluation on the impacts 2 years after families who applied were given the option to move from a public school to a participating private school of their choice.

Go to article

The State Of Education In Arkansas 2008: How Much Are Arkansas Schools Spending?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Brent E. Riffel

Arkansas Education Reports

Over the last half century, more than forty states across the nation have experienced school finance lawsuits as a consequence of funding gaps between rich and poor districts. Arkansas is one such state, with a long history of school funding battles in the courts. The legal challenges began in 1983, when the Arkansas Supreme Court initially found the state's school funding system unconstitutional under the equal protection clause of the state constitution1 . The court found “no legitimate state purpose” and “no rational relationship to educational needs” in the state's method of financing public schools. This initial finding set the …

Go to article

The Muzzled Dog That Didn’T Bark: Charters And The Behavioral Response Of D.C. Public Schools, Margaret D. Sullivan, Dean B. Campbell, Brian Kisida

School Choice Demonstration Project

As of the 2006-2007 school year, 19,733 students attended charter schools in the District of Columbia, representing over a quarter of the District’s total public school student population and one of the largest charter school markets in the country.1 It is under such circumstances, some suggest, that choice will spur competition, ultimately leading to the improvement of public education. Yet, surprisingly little research has evaluated the behavioral response of public schools in D.C. to this source of competition. Most research to date on school choice in D.C. and elsewhere focuses on the largely positive “participant effects” that school choice programs …

Go to article

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report, Nathan L. Gray, Patrick J. Wolf, Laura I. Jensen

School Choice Demonstration Project

With the passage of 2005 Wisconsin Act 125, private schools participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) are now required to administer a nationally normed standardized test annually in reading, mathematics, and science to their MPCP (a.k.a. “Choice”) students enrolled in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. The law further directs Choice schools to submit copies of the scores from those tests to the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP) for processing and reporting to the Legislative Audit Bureau. During the 2006-07 school year, MPCP schools administered either nationally normed tests, such as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, or …

Go to article

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Baseline Descriptive Report On Participating Schools, Brian Kisida, Laura I. Jensen, James C. Rahn, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) began as the nation’s first urban school voucher initiative in the fall of 1990. Initially, seven secular schools were authorized to enroll the 341 students who first participated in the program. By the 2006-07 academic year, a total of 17,749 voucher students were attending one of the 122 private secular and religious schools that participated in the MPCP or “Choice” program for the entire year.

Go to article

The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary Of Baseline Reports, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The MPCP was established in 1990 as the first urban education reform in the U.S. built around the idea of permitting parents to enroll their children in private schools of their choosing at government expense. In its first year of operation, the MPCP enrolled 341 students in the seven secular private schools participating in the program. The MPCP remained a small pilot program throughout the period of Witte’s government-authorized evaluation of 1990-95 (figure 1). Although Wisconsin lawmakers created the conditions for program expansion in 1995 – raising the enrollment cap from 1.5 to 15 percent of K-12 students in the …

Go to article

Mpcp Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Baseline Report, John F. Witte, Patrick J. Wolf, Joshua M. Cowen, David J. Fleming, Juanita Lucas-Mclean

School Choice Demonstration Project

This report focuses on the initial design, implementation and baseline results of the five-year Longitudinal Educational Growth Study (LEGS) of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) being conducted by the School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP). The LEGS will be the first evaluation of the participant effects of the MPCP using student-level data since the initial pilot program expanded dramatically in 1995. Included in this initial report are baseline descriptions of achievement tests for a representative sample of MPCP students in grades 3 through 9, as well as outcomes for comparable samples of students in Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). Also included …

Go to article

The Fiscal Impact Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program In Milwaukee And Wisconsin, 1993-2008, Robert M. Costrell

School Choice Demonstration Project

Throughout the history of publicly-funded voucher programs – enacted and proposed – the impact on taxpayers has been a recurring issue. As the nation’s longest-running program, the Milwaukee Parent Choice Program (MPCP) provides an important case study. The fiscal impact of Milwaukee’s program has evolved in very significant ways over its 18-year history, both in size, as the program grew, and in its allocation among different groups of taxpayers – Milwaukee property taxpayers, non-Milwaukee property taxpayers, and Wisconsin state taxpayers. This report closely examines the features of the MPCP funding formula, and its interaction with the state’s regular district funding …

Go to article

Porchscapes: Between Neighborhood Watershed And Home, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

Located on the Ozark Plateau, this 43-unit housing development is a LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) pilot project to be built for $60/sf plus $2.3 million in infrastructure costs. The studio objective is to design a demonstration project that combines affordability with best environmental practices as designated by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Porchscapes is a pioneering Low Impact Development (LID) project funded under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Section 319 Program for Nonpoint Source Pollution. LID manages stormwater runoff through ecological engineering technologies. A contiguous network of rainwater gardens, bioswales, infiltration trenches, sediment filter strips, green streets, and wet meadows …

Go to article

Satisfied, Optimistic, Yet Concerned: Parent Voices On The Third Year Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf, Stephen Q. Cornman, Kenann Mckenzie-Thompson

School Choice Demonstration Project

On January 23, 2004, President Bush signed the DC School Choice Incentive Act into law. This landmark piece of legislation included $14 million in funding for what would become the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP is the first federally-funded K-12 scholarship program in the country and was designed to provide approximately 1,700 children from low income families with tuition scholarships worth up to $7,500. The scholarships cover the costs of attending nonpublic schools within the District of Columbia that agreed to participate in the Program. In December of 2006, Congress amended the DC School Choice Incentive Act to …

Go to article

Second Year Evaluation Of The Systematic Effects Of The Dc Voucher Program, Marcus A. Winters, Jay P. Greene

School Choice Demonstration Project

While publicly sponsored school voucher programs are primarily intended to impact the lives of those who take advantage of the service, they may also have consequences for the larger community. In particular, voucher programs could affect the performance of public schools by altering their resources and incentives; they could alter the demographics of both public and private schools; they could provide new opportunities for students to attend private schools or simply supplement the behavior of students who would have attended private schools regardless of the program. Regardless of the impact of such programs on the few students who are able …

Go to article

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After One Year, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

School choice remains an important part of the national discussion on education reform strategies and their benefits. While a variety of policies encourage parents’ selection of schools for their children―for example, charter schools, magnet schools, and district open enrollment―scholarships that allow students to attend a private school have received the most attention. The U.S. Congress’ passage of the District of Columbia School Choice Incentive Act of 2003 in January 2004 provided a unique opportunity not only to implement a system of private school choice for low-income students in the District, but also to rigorously assess the effects of the Program …

Go to article

The Evolution Of School Choice Consumers: Parent And Student Voices On The Second Year Of The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Stephen Q. Cornman, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

In the 50 years since economist Milton Friedman published "The Role of Government in Education"1 scholars and policy makers have been debating how parental choice through market mechanisms can and does operate in education. Market "optimists" argue that education is a service that can be produced under a variety of arrangements and that parents are natural education consumers.2 Market "pessimists" argue that education is a public good that should be produced in government-run schools, and that school choice programs suffer "market failure" because only advantaged families will have the resources and experience to choose effectively.3 These academic debates continue to …

Go to article

European Union Food Law Update, Nicole Coutrelis

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On December 23, 2006, the European Commission published Commission Directive 2006/142/EC "amending Annex IlIa of Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council listing the ingredients which must under all circumstances appear on the labelling of foodstuffs" in regard to Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 20, 2000, "on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs."' "Annex IIla of Directive 2000/13/EC lists the ingredients which must under all circumstances appear on the labeling of foodstuffs ... " and the new Directive …

Go to article

Safe But Not Wholesome: The Troubling State Of Trans Fat Regulation, Ross Williams

Journal of Food Law & Policy

On March 7, 2007, the New York Times reported that Starbucks, the retail coffee chain which sells millions of baked goods every day from its over 8,700 U.S. stores, had asked its suppliers to eliminate all trans fats from their products by the end of the year. The big story for New York readers, though, was not that Starbucks was requiring the elimination of trans fats from its baked goods. In fact, New York City had just passed an ordinance strictly limiting the use of artificial trans fats, the type present in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (PHVO), by virtually all …

Go to article

Harvey V. Veneman And The National Organic Program: Can Organic Be Synthetic?, Jennifer C. Fiser

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The market for organic products has increased dramatically in the United States and across the world in recent years.' Since 1997, sales of organic foods have grown from 15% to 21% per year, and while organic foods accounted for only 2.5% of total food sales in the United States in 2005, those sales amounted to $13.8 billion.

Go to article

Full-Text Articles in Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration

The Fiscal Impact Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: 2009 Update, Robert M. Costrell

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary Of Second Year Reports, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Mpcp Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Second Year Report, John F. Witte, Patrick J. Wolf, Joshua M. Cowen, David J. Fleming, Juanita Lucas-Mclean

School Choice Demonstration Project

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report 2007-08, Nathan L. Gray, Patrick J. Wolf, Laura I. Jensen

School Choice Demonstration Project

Quality Counts 2009, Sarah C. Mckenzie, Gary W. Ritter

Policy Briefs

Macarthur Park Master Plan, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

Family Reflections On The District Of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program: Final Summary Report, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf, Stephen Q. Cornman, Kenann Mckenzie-Thompson, Jonathan Butcher

School Choice Demonstration Project

Teach A Man: Proactively Battling Food Insecurity By Increasing Access To Local Foods, Christina Fox

Journal of Food Law & Policy

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

2008 Report Card On Arkansas Schools, Gary Ritter

Education Report Card

Dollars For Sense: Assessing Achievement Gaps In Arkansas In The Context Of Substantial Funding Increases, Joshua H. Barnett, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

What Does Naep Tell Us About Student Achievement In Arkansas?, Sarah B. Kent, Nathan C. Jensen, Gary W. Ritter

Arkansas Education Reports

The Forgotten Minority: A Cross-Sectional And Time-Series Analysis Of American Indian/Alaska Native Child Abuse And Neglect, 1993-2003, Linda Kaye Ketcher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Two Years, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

The State Of Education In Arkansas 2008: How Much Are Arkansas Schools Spending?, Joshua H. Barnett, Gary W. Ritter, Brent E. Riffel

Arkansas Education Reports

The Muzzled Dog That Didn’T Bark: Charters And The Behavioral Response Of D.C. Public Schools, Margaret D. Sullivan, Dean B. Campbell, Brian Kisida

School Choice Demonstration Project

Milwaukee Longitudinal School Choice Evaluation: Annual School Testing Summary Report, Nathan L. Gray, Patrick J. Wolf, Laura I. Jensen

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Baseline Descriptive Report On Participating Schools, Brian Kisida, Laura I. Jensen, James C. Rahn, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Comprehensive Longitudinal Evaluation Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: Summary Of Baseline Reports, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

Mpcp Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Baseline Report, John F. Witte, Patrick J. Wolf, Joshua M. Cowen, David J. Fleming, Juanita Lucas-Mclean

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Fiscal Impact Of The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program In Milwaukee And Wisconsin, 1993-2008, Robert M. Costrell

School Choice Demonstration Project

Porchscapes: Between Neighborhood Watershed And Home, Community Design Center

Community Design Center Project Reports

Satisfied, Optimistic, Yet Concerned: Parent Voices On The Third Year Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf, Stephen Q. Cornman, Kenann Mckenzie-Thompson

School Choice Demonstration Project

Second Year Evaluation Of The Systematic Effects Of The Dc Voucher Program, Marcus A. Winters, Jay P. Greene

School Choice Demonstration Project

Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After One Year, Patrick J. Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, Marsha Silverberg

School Choice Demonstration Project

The Evolution Of School Choice Consumers: Parent And Student Voices On The Second Year Of The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, Stephen Q. Cornman, Thomas Stewart, Patrick J. Wolf

School Choice Demonstration Project

European Union Food Law Update, Nicole Coutrelis

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Safe But Not Wholesome: The Troubling State Of Trans Fat Regulation, Ross Williams

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Harvey V. Veneman And The National Organic Program: Can Organic Be Synthetic?, Jennifer C. Fiser

Journal of Food Law & Policy