- (Harvard Education Press)
Why do parents decide to switch schools? How good is the information school districts provide to guide those decisions? How do traditional public schools respond to competition from charter schools? Do options exacerbate segregation by skimming off the best students? And do any of these efforts appear to improve student achievement?
Answers to these difficult questions surrounding school choice are the topic of a new book by experts at the at 91ÌƲ®»¢ University’s published this month by .
The researchers examine how communities, districts and states use choice as a strategy for improving schools and student learning in a manner designed to address common concerns of parents, policymakers and the broader public.
The newly published studies focus on cities and states with some of the country’s most interesting school choice scenarios, including Washington, D.C., New York, Indianapolis, Chicago and Michigan.
Included in the book, , are:
- A discussion of the effects of the variety of school choice options and how they operate within districts, cities or states, by , principal investigator of NCSC and professor of leadership, policy and organizations, , associate director of the NCSC, and , professor of sociology and education at the University of Notre Dame;
- Findings that students who switched to charter schools in Indianapolis experienced positive gains on standardized tests compared with their gains trajectories in traditional public schools. The authors, 91ÌƲ®»¢ Peabody College graduate students Anna Nicotera and Maria Mendiburo and Berends, speculate that the positive effects might be attributable to unique circumstances in Indianapolis, where the mayor has independent control over charter school authorization and accountability, and business and civic leaders have strongly supported the program;
- Ellen Goldring (Wolf Hoffmann)
- An exploration of the behavior of parents around school choice, which finds that while parents indicate academics are a top priority, their actual switching patterns showed little evidence of this preference, by Goldring, , research assistant professor of education policy, and , Johns Hopkins University;
- Findings that contrary to popular belief, charter schools do not inspire principals at non-charter schools to change their behavior and leadership in order to be more competitive, by Cannata; and
- A report that no evidence exists to show charter schools skim high achieving students or dramatically affecting schools’ racial mix of schools, by , associate professor of leadership, policy and organizations, and colleagues.
- Marisa Cannata (Steve Green / 91ÌƲ®»¢)
School Choice and School Improvement is edited by Cannata, Goldring and Berends and is based on papers presented at a held at 91ÌƲ®»¢ in 2009.
The book is a collaboration among Peabody College and the , , the , , , , and the .
The NCSC is funded by a five-year, $13.3 million grant from the .