Choices for studying choice: Assessing charter school effectiveness using two quasi-experimental methods

Two quasi-experimental methods – fixed effects (FE) and virtual control records (VCR) – were used to measure charter schooling in 14 states and two districts. The new VCR method uses all available observable charter student characteristics and prior performance to create a composite comparison record. A head-to-head comparison of the FE and VCR methods used the same charter students to test the FE control (e.g., the charter student's own traditional public school experience) and the VCR for equivalence. The comparison produced highly similar estimates; charter coefficients were identical in sign and significance and of the same general magnitudes. In an analysis of the sampling fractions included in each method using all available tested charter students, the VCR method was found to produce more generalizable results. In the policy analysis, charter school quality was found to be demographically and geographically uneven with only 19 percent of charter schools outperforming their local markets.     

培养下一代卓越的国际化工程师——"全球工程教育卓越计划"研究综述

全球化正从根本上改变世界范围内各国经济的设计、生产、销售、消费及服务的模式,工程领域也被推到这一发展的前沿.德国大陆集团(Continental AG)于2005年10月发起、资助并全程参与了"全球工程教育卓越计划"的国际研究项目,邀请欧、美、亚的6个国家的8所大学共同进行研究,探讨了全球化背景下的工程师工作环境及未来工程人员培养等问题.     

Parental choice of childcare in England: Choosing in phases and the split market

This article explores how parents choose childcare settings for their pre-school children within a context of complex policy on eligibility for free provision and a developing market. Using data from interviews with 17 mainly middle-class parents in England, we explore in detail how parents go about choosing a childcare setting and the different phases of this process. This adds further nuance to the existing literature on choosing practices and the dysfunction and inequalities of a neoliberal childcare market, and also updates the discussion to include recent policy developments such as the provision of ‘30 hours free childcare’ for 3 and 4-year-olds. We conclude that parental choosing involves a series of decisions in two or three phases, which start from practical considerations, followed by quality comparison and then back to practical constraints if a decision has not been made. The options open to parents are split between not only those able to accommodate shorter ‘free’ provision and those that require longer periods of childcare to work, but also between those with children under three and above. Contrary to previous findings in this area, this split may work to the disadvantage of some middle-class families, whose children attend lower-quality settings as a result.     

Two decades of charter schools: Expectations,reality, and the future

The first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991 and with it, a new school reform movement began. After two decades, 41 states and Washington D.C. have adopted charter legislation. This special issue provides an opportunity for scholars to reflect upon the promises and limitations of charter schools and to offer policy advice for those in a position to influence future reforms. Together, the papers within this special issue examine the achievement effects of charter schools, their cost effectiveness, the competitive pressure created by charter schools, the degree to which charter schools are innovative and how some of the operational and policy features of charter schools may affect outcomes.     

Parental choice,social class and market forces: the consequences of privatization of public services in education

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents’ choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations, ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged groups and immigrants, are concentrated in the same schools. The methodology was ethnographic. We studied 13 private and public schools in Zaragoza, in which 40 students carried out research for 5 months, using interviews, observations and document analysis. The interviews were fully transcribed and analysed using a Straussian methodology. We found three micro‐markets, varying according to different socio‐cultural factors, that share the patterns of an ‘old and stable’ market. This kind of market does not work strictly under the rules of the marketplace, where there is tough competition between schools. However, its outcomes are similar. This ‘old and stable’ market is a mechanism of social class reproduction. The middle and upper classes go to private schools, while ethnic minorities, economically disadvantaged groups and immigrants attend the public sector. The parents’ expectations, experiences and ideology play a key role in the marketplace, as well as in the several micro‐markets. Middle class families have more chances to choose a school, due to greater resources and cultural status. Among several conclusions I emphasize that a market system is not necessary for social inequalities to take place. It will occur when the possibility of choice arises. The middle class are favoured under current circumstances, while the working class are disadvantaged. What are the prospects of disadvantaged classes if a market system is developed, with full freedom of choice being promoted and no compensatory actions carried out? Everybody would have the same rights, but would everyone enjoy the same conditions or possibilities? It is possible to predict that the struggle between a public education monopoly and a market system will produce greater differences between social classes. In fact, these policies could provoke a decline of the public school in Spain.     

School choice and the search for an educational market

This article looks at attempts to create markets in schooling by increasing school choice, making particular reference to a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the impact of choice policies in six countries: Australia, England, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States. The main policies examined are subsidies to private schools and enhancement of choice between schools within the public sector. The article identifies five kinds of imperfection in school markets in practice: the failure of clear alternatives to present themselves to consumers; the arbitrariness of criteria for choosing; limits to capacity at popular schools; the failure of supply to diversify in response to consumer pressures and the existence of negative externalities. It is argued that these imperfections make it necessary to intervene to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks of school choice.

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Zusammenfassung Unter Bezugnahme auf eine Studie der OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development — Organisation für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung) beschreibt dieser Artikel Versuche, Märkte im Schulwesen durch erhöhte Schulauswahl zu schaffen. Die OECD-Studie beinhaltet die Auswirkungen der Auswahlpolitik in sechs Ländern: Australien, England, die Niederlande, Neuseeland, Schweden und die Vereinigten Staaten. Zu den wesentlichen hier untersuchten politischen Maßnahmen gehören Zuschüsse für private Schulen und die Förderung der Wahlmöglichkeiten bei öffentlichen Schulen. Der Artikel verweist auf fünf Mängel des Schulmarktes: fehlende klare Alterntiven für den Verbraucher, Willkür der Auswahlkriterien, Grenzen der Kapazitäten an populären Schulen, fehlende Diversifizierung als Antwort auf den Druck durch den Verbraucher und das Bestehen negativer äußerer Umstände. Der Autor argumentiert, daß diese Mängel ein gewisses Maß an Intervention benötigen, um Vorteile zu maximieren und die Risiken bei der Schulwahl so gering wie möglich zu halten.

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Résumé Cet article passe en revue les tentatives de création de marchés dans le domaine éducatif grâce à l'élargissement des possibilités de choix sur le plan de la scolarité. Il se fonde en particulier sur une étude menée par l'Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques (OCDE) analysant l'impact des politiques de choix dans six pays: l'Australie, l'Angleterre, les Pays-Bas, la Nouvelle-Zélande, la Suède et les Etats-Unis. Les principales politiques examinées sont les suivantes: subventions accordées aux écoles privées et plus grand choix entre les différentes écoles du secteur public. L'article révèle que, dans la pratique, les marchés scolaires présentent cinq imperfections: le manque d'alternatives clairement identifiables par le consommateur; le caractère arbitraire des critères de choix; les capacités limitées des écoles les plus désirées; l'absence d'une diversification répondant à la demande des consommateurs et l'existence de facteurs externes négatifs. Ces imperfections nécessiteraient une intervention pour optimiser les bénéfices et minimaliser les risques liés au choix scolaire.

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Sumario El artículo enfoca los intentos realizados para crear mercados en la educación mediante la elección de escuela y hace especial referencia a un estudio de la OCDE sobre el impacto de las políticas de elección en seis países: Australia, Inglaterra, Holanda, Nueva Zelandia, Suecia y los Estados Unidos. Las principales actividades examinadas son los subsidios a las escuelas privadas y el perfeccionamiento de la elección de escuela en el sector público. En el artículo se señalan cinco tipos de defectos presentes en la práctica: la carencia de diversidad en las ofertas presentadas a los consumidores, la arbitrariedad de los criterios de election, los límites de capacidad en escuelas popularies, la falta de respuestas a los deseos de los consumidores y la existencia de factores externos negativos. Aquí se aboga por una intervención, para maximizar los beneficios y minimizar los riesgos de la elección de escuela.

     

Using lotteries to evaluate schools of choice: Evidence from a national study of charter schools

This paper draws on data and experiences observing and analyzing school lotteries from the National Evaluation of Charter School Impacts (Gleason et al., 2010) to describe the challenges associated with lottery-based research. In that study, covering 36 charter middle schools in 15 states, we found that charter schools did not affect student achievement or behavior on average, although there was substantial variation across schools. In this paper, we discuss the prevalence of oversubscribed charter schools at the time the study was conducted (the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 school years), which was lower than commonly reported. We then describe how the sample of schools that participated in the study compared to all other charter middle schools nationwide, to provide some insight into the generalizabilty of findings from lottery-based studies. In general, oversubscribed charter schools were more likely to be located in urban areas and serve a higher-achieving population of students than those without excess demand. We also describe common features of school lotteries and waitlists, and examine implications of these features for a school's ability to support a lottery-based study. Finally, we summarize lessons learned for conducting lottery-based research on charter schools, drawing on our observations of the schools’ lotteries and analysis of the data from these lotteries.     

Mapping the terrain: Teach For America,charter school reform,and corporate sponsorship

In this paper we illustrate the relationships between Teach For America (TFA) and federal charter school reform to interrogate how policy decisions are shaped by networks of individuals, organizations, and private corporations. We use policy network analysis to create a visual representation of TFA’s key role in developing and connecting personnel, political support, and financial backing for charter reform. Next we examine how the networks unfold at a local level by zooming in on a case study of New Orleans. By mapping out these connections, we hope to provide a foundation for further investigation of how this network affects policies.     

Singapore Education in “New Times”: Global/local imperatives

This paper critically examines recent education reform in Singapore launched under the rhetoric of “Thinking Schools, Learning Nation” (TSLN). I will make explicit the context and the premises underlying the new state‐initiated TSLN education reform. I argue that the re‐alignment of education change is a response to the trajectories of (global) economic conditions, concomitantly framed by (local) sociopolitical and cultural–ideological needs. Next, I tease out and critique the pedagogical problems and contradictions embedded in the TSLN education reform. The paper concludes by asking what critical perspectives can be drawn from the Singapore case vis‐a`‐vis globalisation and education reform.     

Understanding the charter school concept in legislation: the cases of Arizona,Michigan and Georgia1

This article explores the ways in which policy‐makers in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia understood the charter concept when adopting charter legislation. Drawing on literature on policy formation, the paper traces both the creation of the charter law in each state, and the underlying rationales that led policy‐makers to support the legislation. The author compares the rationales found in each state based on the goals of the legislation and the means to reaching those goals (including various interpretations of the concepts of autonomy and accountability). This analysis helps to explain why the idea of charter schools has received support from individuals and organizations that span the ideological spectrum.     

Labour market motivation and undergraduates' choice of degree subject

Labour market outcomes of undergraduates' choice of subject are important for public policy and for students. Policy interest is indicated by the prominence of ‘employability’ in public discourse and in proposals to concentrate government funding in England in supporting STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). As students in England face the prospect of bearing the full financial burden of undergraduate tuition, the large differences between wage premia for different subjects may become of increasing interest. We find that, even after taking account of differences in motivation towards the choice of undergraduate subject, males and members of certain non‐White ethnic groups are more likely to choose ‘high wage‐premium’ subjects. We also find some significant differences between the motivations of different minority ethnic groups. However, students from lower income households are less likely to choose high wage premium subjects, which is a concern for this aspect of policy towards participation in higher education and social mobility.     

The Role of Universities in Stimulating Regional Development and Educating Global E´lites

At the start of the Twenty-First Century, European universities must play a number of roles in terms of social and economic development. In particular, they must increasingly serve as engines for local and regional development, thus filling a niche that only seems logical for them. At the same time, universities will form e´lites, particularly local e´lites; however, those universities that are world-class institutions will and should educate global e´lites. In performing the latter role, European universities in the Twenty-First Century will reassume a role, seized by American universities in the Twentieth Century, which they had successfully played in the Nineteenth Century.     

Educating in the Ways of the Spirit: Teaching and Leading Poetically,Prophetically, Powerfully

This article is an attempt to awaken the life of the spirit through the creative imagination. In form and content, the artcile encourages teachers and leaders to recognize and value the poetic and prophetic dimensions of their works as a way of deepening human consciousness. Within this article, creative ways of the spirit are explored through the rich language of poetry. Such language is intended to invite educators to visit their own interior landscapes where the Spirit moves, stirs, and plays. The article begins by attending to the voices of Latin American women whose poetry denounces oppressive silence as a threat to human subjects. Next, it explores poetry as dissent and desire and advances prophecy as the voice and the vision of poetic imagination, then concludes by challenging educators to notice and respond to the poetic and prophetic dimensions of their work as powerful intersections for both disclosing and concealing the Gracious Holy Mystery of God.     

School choice and the social market in New Zealand: Education reform in an era of increasing inequality

This article argues that the growing social and economic inequalities of New Zealand society have their echoes in growing educational gaps. This does not mean that one directly determines the other, but that social and economic changes impinge both directly, through such things as housing patterns and community resources, and indirectly, through perceptions of aspiration and opportunity, on schooling systems and on students. For the period under review here, income inequalities have continued to rise in New Zealand, and for most of that time real incomes for the majority have fallen. Wealth and poverty, at least within the larger cities, have become more concentrated. Patterns of wealth and deprivation have reinforced processes of school segregation that have occurred under policies of school choice. Over the last few years, a range of social and educational policies have been developed to mitigate the worst effects of market policies. However, it is argued that until the earnings gap is closed, and in particular until child poverty is addressed through increases in social security, there is little chance that educational outcomes for deprived young people will improve significantly.     

Market mobilities/immobilities: mutation,path-dependency,and the spread of charter school policies in the United States

ABSTRACT

Over the past 25 years charter school policies have spread through the United States at a rapid pace. However, despite this rapid growth these policies have spread unevenly across the country with important variations in how charter school systems function in each state. Drawing on case studies in Michigan and Oregon, this article argues that mobile education policies are best conceptualized as made up of both mobile and immobile elements that continually shape and reshape those policies.