Private school leaders weigh costs and benefits when deciding whether to participate in school voucher programs. Regulatory costs associated with accepting voucher funding could reduce private school leaders' willingness to participate. We test this hypothesis through the first random assignment analysis of the effects of various regulations on…

We examine the literature linking private and charter schooling to perceptions of student safety in United States schools. The results are generally positive for student, parent, and principal reports of school safety for the nine studies on safety in public charter schools and the eleven studies on safety in private schools. Eight of the nine…

Private school voucher programs provide government subsidies to eligible students for tuition and other education-related costs. Parents participating in choice programs benefit from a larger and more diverse supply of education providers. Private schools must choose whether or not to participate in a voucher program in their community. In…

Access to private schools and public charter schools might improve parent and student satisfaction through competitive pressures and improved matches between educators and students. Using ordered probit regression analysis and a nationally representative sample of 13,436 students in the United States in 2016, I compare satisfaction levels of…

Access to public charter schools could theoretically reduce school safety problems by increasing competitive pressures, improving matches between schools and students, enhancing discipline policies, and allowing students to relocate to peer groups and cultures that discourage risky behaviors. Using publicly available data from the Pennsylvania…

I calculate the cost-effectiveness of private schools participating in school voucher programs, independent charter schools, and district-authorized charter schools, compared to traditional public schools in Wisconsin for the 2017-18 school year. I calculate cost-effectiveness by dividing the Accountability Report Card score for each school by the…

Students' abilities are multidimensional; teachers and schools shape students' cognitive skills, most often captured by test scores, but they also shape students' non-cognitive skills such as character, tolerance, effort, and conscientiousness. This study reviews the evidence indicating disconnects between test scores and non-cognitive skills from…

School choice allows families to choose schools that are more suited to their children. These choices may affect non-academic outcomes, including students' mental health. We empirically examine the relationship between school choice and mental health using two methods. First, we use difference-in-differences to estimate the effects of state…