Choosing non-government secondary schooling

This paper tests a model of non-Government secondary school choice among the subjects of a longitudinal study of career commencement. The results show that the socio-economic advantages of upper middle class origins, already a factor in these subjects remaining at school, may repeat their effects in terms of Independent secondary school choice for possible children. The choice of Catholic schooling seems motivated by other concerns, though we demonstrate a sizeable drift from the Catholic school sector to the Independent school sector. The choice of Catholic secondary schooling is bound up largely with being Roman Catholic and carrying on a tradition of attendance at such schools, especially among men.     

Student-teachers’ perspectives on the purposes and characteristics of faith-based schools: an Australian view

At a time when the faith-based identity of schools is facing serious challenges, the researchers undertook a longitudinal study of the relevant opinions, beliefs and values of student-teachers at a Catholic university campus in Australia. The focus of the current paper is on the responses of first-year students to a survey regarding their choice of secondary school, the purposes of schooling and the characteristics of Catholic schools. Relevant context are addressed including global education trends, the values and characteristics of Catholic education and relevant aspects of Australian schooling and youth culture. Regardless of religious affiliation, self-reported religiosity or type of school attended, providing a ‘safe and caring school environment’ emerged as the most important purpose of schooling and as a key reason for choice of school, while faith-based purposes and reasons received particularly low ratings. ‘Caring community’ was regarded as by far the most important characteristic of the Catholic school, followed by engagement in social justice programmes. The findings are briefly compared with parallel findings for teachers in Queensland Catholic schools.     

Instructional and School Effects on Students' Longitudinal Reading and Mathematics Achievements

For this study, Prospects, a data set on schools and students in the United States collected during the early 1990s, was used to examine the effects of instructional and school organizational characteristics on the longitudinal mathematics and reading achievements of students from either a first- or third-grade cohort. Three schooling models were tested using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) while controlling for parental socioeconomic (SES) status. Factors and variables that represented instructional and school features were derived from teacher and principal responses to survey items. These features had direct and interactive effects on mathematics achievement, supporting both an environmental and interactive model of schooling. Further, schools characterized by teacher collegiality, support for innovation, principal leadership, goal agreement, and community support contained teachers who employed important instructional strategies more effectively, and students who had the highest mathematics gains over the observed period.     

Competition and curriculum diversity in local schooling markets: theory and evidence

Amongst the factors, which have motivated market-based reforms of state schooling was a desire to increase choice and diversity. It has been claimed, on the basis of conventional economic analysis, that increasing competitive pressures on schools would promote greater curriculum innovation and diversity. We critically assess both the economic rationale and empirical support for this proposition, concentrating largely upon UK experience. Our analysis suggests that market-based reforms can initially create pressures which increase curriculum conformity in local schooling markets. Over time there are likely to be greater incentives to innovate and diversify, but these are greatest for schools who are least able to resource them.     

学校变革的三种影响力量

教育行政推动、社会需求驱动和学校自主选择是影响学校变革的三种主要力量,它们对学校变革的影响各不相同。为使学校变革能顺利推进,一方面要尽力改进教育行政管理和引导社会对教育的需求,为学校变革创造支持环境;另一方面要从学校自主选择切入,培育推动学校变革的力量。为此,要重点提升校长的教育责任感、事业心、办学理念、开拓精神、改革意志等办学品质。     

When Choice Does Not Matter: Political Liberalism,Religion and the Faith School Debate

Liberal attempts to defend faith schooling have been conditional on the ability of faith schools to serve as a context for individual choice. A recent critique of these attempts claims that religious parents would find such moderate faith schooling unacceptable. This article sets forth a new liberal defence of faith schools drawing heavily on the distinction between political and comprehensive liberalism. Since political liberalism's understanding of personal autonomy does not include the ability to make choices, the political liberal defence of faith schools can accommodate denominational schools that limit the ability of students to choose or change their religion.     

How and Why to Support Common Schooling and Educational Choice at the Same Time

The common school ideal is the source of one of the oldest educational debates in liberal democratic societies. The movement in favour of greater educational choice is the source of one of the most recent. Each has been the cause of major and enduring controversy, not only within philosophical thought but also within political, legal and social arenas. Echoing conclusions reached by Terry McLaughlin, but taking the historical and legal context of the United States as my backdrop, I argue that the ideal of common schooling and the existence of separate schools, which is to say, the existence of educational choice, are not merely compatible but necessarily co-exist in a liberal democratic society. In other words, we need both common schooling and educational choice. The essay proceeds in four parts. First, I explain why we need to understand something about pluralism in order to understand common schooling and school choice. In the second and third parts, I explore the normative significance of pluralism for common schooling and educational choice, respectively. In the fourth part, I show how the two can be reconciled, given a certain understanding of what pluralism demands.     

Policy‐making in a cuts culture

The financial constraints imposed upon local government over the past decade have forced many authorities to make savings rapidly and in conditions of considerable uncertainty. Education, as the largest spender and with falling pupil numbers, has often provided the bulk of these savings. In many authorities these have been made in an unplanned, piecemeal fashion and have seriously damaged the service. This paper considers the possibility of a ‘cuts culture’ in which continuing contraction is planned for as part of corporate policy. It raises important questions about the nature of schooling, the relationship between schools and the community and control over the financing of education. It suggests that a case might be made for substantial change, but not unbridled, insensitive reform. The importance of defending, as well as reforming the system is stressed, and the organizational implications of this are considered.     

Multilevel design of school effectiveness studies in sub-Saharan Africa

School-based improvement programs represent a core strategy in improving education because they can leverage pre-existing social and organizational structures to promote coordinated and comprehensive change across multiple facets of schooling. School-based programs are generally designed to be implemented by intact schools/districts, frequently making it infeasible or atheoretical to assign students within the same school to different conditions while ensuring study validity. Rather, studies frequently assign intact schools/districts to treatment conditions to accommodate the multilevel structure of schooling and the theory of action underlying many school-based programs. In planning such studies, effective and efficient design requires plausible values of the variance partition coefficients and the variance explained by covariates during the design stage. Using representative samples of each country, we develop empirical estimates of design parameters within and across 15 countries that are intended to inform and facilitate the efficient design of multisite cluster-randomized studies of school improvement in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Organizational Characteristics of Schools That Successfully Serve Low-Income Urban African American Students

A prerequisite for correcting ineffective education is the examination of research on the learning environments of successful schools and the conditions and processes that enable quality outcomes. The research described in this article supports the Talent Development philosophy, which rejects deficit-based "talent sorting" models of schooling and promotes widespread academic success in appropriately supportive environments. The study delineates the common organizational characteristics of schools in low-income areas that defy the odds by producing high numbers of high-achieving African American students. Specifically, it explores how urban elementary schools that successfully serve primarily low-income African American students are configured to support students' academic and personal growth.

Participating schools were selected based on test scores evidencing their students' sustained mathematics and reading achievement. The data for the analysis was obtained from questionnaires mailed to the schools' principals. Patterns in the data and discernable trends across schools are described.     

The principal in schools of choice: Middle manager,entrepreneur, and symbol manager

Educational choice is a major policy strategy currently gaining momentum. Yet numerous questions remain regarding the nature of public sector schools of choice and their control. This article contributes to the literature on choice and control by identifying the leadership role of principals in these schools. Beginning with an examination of institutional and organizational features unique to public sector schools of choice, the article moves to a discussion of the principal as middle manager, entrepreneur, and symbol manager. Each of these roles is examined in terms of how control and autonomy are balanced. The article concludes with a discussion of policy questions for future study.     

在西部新建本科院校教育发展研讨会上的讲话(摘登)

西部新建本科院校大多是在全国高校布局结构调整中,以师专为主与其他院校合并而建立的本科师范院校。面对教师教育市场的开放,师范教育面临着战略转型的选择。因此,我们必须确立学校定位,树立科学的办学理念,明确学校的地位和作用,积极探索学校体制改革,充分挖掘师范教育的办学优势,努力实现学校事业的可持续发展。     

Parent decision-making when selecting schools: The case of Nepal

This paper analyzes the parent decision-making processes underlying school selection in Nepal. The analysis is based on primary survey and focus group data collected from parent meetings in diverse local education markets in two districts of Nepal in 2011. It highlights three main arguments that are less frequently discussed in the context of school choice, including in developing countries. First, children who go to public schools play a significant role in their own decision-making on schooling; this complicates the currently predominant conceptualization that schooling decisions are primarily made by parents and school officials. Second, the gradual growth in private schools has led to significant sorting of students and created a stigma around public education. Finally, in contexts such as Nepal, that suffer from political conflict, and poor conditions for law and order, a school’s proximity to their home becomes a greater priority for students and families.     

A Review of the Empirical Research on Private School Choice

Parents in the United States have had the legal right to choose the school their child attends for a long time. Traditionally, parental school choice took the form of families moving to a neighborhood with good public schools or self-financing private schooling. Contemporary education policies allow parents in many areas to choose from among public schools in neighboring districts, public magnet schools, public charter schools, private schools through the use of a voucher or tax-credit scholarship, virtual schools, or even homeschooling. The newest form of school choice is education savings accounts (ESAs), which make a portion of the funds that a state spends on children in public schools available to their parents in spending accounts that they can use to customize their children's education. Opponents claim that expanding private school choice yields no additional benefits to participants and generates significant harms to the students “left behind” in traditional public schools. A review of the empirical research on private school choice finds evidence that private school choice delivers some benefits to participating students—particularly in the area of educational attainment—and tends to help, albeit to a limited degree, the achievement of students who remain in public schools.     

调整农村小学布局要允许复式教学的存在

复式教学是历史的必然选择,曾经发挥过巨大的作用并将继续发挥积极的作用。在对农村小学进行布局调整的过程中,要保留部分复式学校、在部分学校中要允许复式教学班的存在,以最大限度地解决农村儿童上学难的问题。要扬长避短,积极创造条件,努力办好复式教学。     

Rural Communities Lacking Multi-Sector Schooling Options: Indiana’s School Choice Deserts

ABSTRACT

Despite Indiana’s school choice landscape – including private school vouchers, tax-credit scholarships, inter-district and intra-district enrollment, magnet schools, and charter schools – not all Indiana communities have reasonable access to options outside of their traditional public schools. This research explores what lack-of-reasonable access differences – defined as greater than a 30-minute one-way drive time to a choice school – exist by locale, with a focus on rural communities. Geospatial analysis is used to identify “school choice deserts” lacking multi-sector schooling options in various communities. These deserts tend to exist wholly or mostly in rural areas, although Indiana students in grades K–8 exhibit greater access levels to non-traditional schools than those in high school.     

Social inequalities in the French education system: the joint effect of individual and contextual factors

This paper presents a synthetic picture of social inequalities in pupils' scholastic careers in France. Individual factors such as socio-economic background remain important for both academic results from the beginning of schooling on and option and streaming choices at the secondary level. Moreover, families have unequal resources to manage their children's schooling careers in a system which is becoming more complex and decentralized. This means that contextual factors are also very important. Decentralization has in fact increased the importance of choice of schooling context: the class or the school attended does make a difference and this has the effect of widening social gaps in academic results and socialization. The present trend towards more autonomous schools fosters inequalities resulting from contextual factors but inequalities are also produced by the downgrading of degrees resulting from the fact that employers are requiring ever-higher degrees in a period of job shortage.     

Parental Priorities in the Selection of International Schools

The issue of choice of schooling for their offspring is one which exercises many parents based in different parts of the world. For parents whose employment takes them away from their home country and whose children accompany them on such postings, the issue—while different from the experience of parents based solely within national systems—is no less important or complex. This paper investigates the issue of parental choice and priorities within the context of three international schools in Switzerland, where a study was undertaken to establish the basis on which parents had elected to send their children to one or other of the schools in question. Based on a survey model of questionnaires and follow-up interviews with parents, the research concludes that a major factor influencing parents is the perceived importance of an English-medium education. Interesting similarities in perceptions to emerge from the study are found amongst parents from the different schools and amongst parents of primary and secondary age children, while differences in perceived levels of importance clearly emerge between fathers and mothers, and between parents from different geographical backgrounds. The paper suggests some preliminary explanations for such differences, and highlights areas which could form the basis for further pieces of research in this growing and increasingly important context.     

Parental Motivation in School Choice

Abstract

Concerned that public schooling leads to mediocrity rather than meritocracy, many middle-class parents are seeking other options such as private schools, alternative public schools, and charter schools to develop their children's academic, creative, and athletic talents. Based on a mixed method investigation of school choice among parents (N = 1,871) in the two largest cities in the Province of Alberta, this paper examines the logic, values, and concerns that inform parental decision-making and the impact of social class differentiation in the process of selection of elementary schools. Issues surrounding the placement of gifted students in various school options are discussed.     

Gentrification,Charter Schools,and Enrollment Patterns in Washington,DC: Shared Growth or New Forms of Educational Inequality?

ABSTRACT

Cities in the United States and across the world have experienced gentrification at the same time as school choice policies have become more popular. This research examines the relationship between gentrification and charter schooling, seeking to understand how together they affect demographic composition of schools across Washington, DC. This study uses geographic information systems (GIS) mapping and statistical techniques to show that gentrified neighborhoods are more likely to have charter schools. Additionally, the demographic compositions of charter schools and traditional public schools differ depending on the gentrification classification of the census tract in which the schools are located. While a handful of diverse charter schools exist in gentrified neighborhoods and some diverse public schools exist in traditionally affluent neighborhoods, schools in Washington, DC remain racially and economically isolated overall.