Researchers have considered how school choice policies affect student achievement, but less inquiry explores how the organization of schools may change in the presence of choice. This descriptive and exploratory paper analyzes a state representative sample of school mission statements at two time points: before the enactment of choice policies in…

In order to realize all the benefits of parental-choice programs, advocates, policymakers, and participating schools have to pay more attention to implementation challenges, both when designing parental-choice policies and after new programs are enacted. This report discusses both categories of implementation challenges. The first…

The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (ICSP), which began in fall 2011, is a state taxpayer-funded financial aid program that helps low and lower-middle income Hoosiers to send their children to the private K-12 school of their choice. This voucher program has been extremely popular among families, as the number of students receiving scholarships…

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" defines each of the four types of school choice: education savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and individual tax credits and…

Each student has unique needs and learns in different ways. By allowing parents to plan for their children's individual needs, education scholarship accounts (ESAs) create a personal approach to education. This report presents: (1) What are education scholarship accounts?; (2) How can parents use ESA funds?; (3) Which states have Educaation…

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" defines each of the four types of school choice: education savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and individual tax credits and…

This annual publication of "The ABCs of School Choice" is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This edition of "The ABCs of School Choice" defines each of the four types of school choice: education savings accounts, vouchers, tax-credit scholarships and individual tax credits and…

Tax credit scholarship (TCS) programs offer state tax credits to individuals or businesses that donate to scholarship funds for students to attend private elementary and secondary schools. Through these credits, donors may reduce the amount they owe in state taxes by the full or a partial amount of their donation, depending on each program's…

While private school choice programs can be controversial, an increasingly large body of research suggests that most programs lead to improved educational opportunities and outcomes for students. A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) builds on this body of research. It examines the effects of the largest private school…

We examine how low-income parents who apply for North Carolina's Opportunity Scholarship program navigate major obstacles to their full participation in this means-tested private school choice program. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study draws upon administrative data from the state agency that oversees the program, surveys of every…

Although several studies have documented the effects of statewide private school choice programs on student test scores, this report is the first to examine the effects of one of these programs on college enrollment and graduation. Using data from the Florida Tax Credit (FTC) Scholarship program, we find that low-income Florida students who…

We use quantile treatment effects estimation to examine the consequences of the random-assignment New York City School Choice Scholarship Program (NYCSCSP) across the distribution of student achievement. Our analyses suggest that the program had negligible and statistically insignificant effects across the skill distribution. In addition to…

Private school choice programs are frequently mired in political and legal controversy. Two primary factors fuel this controversy. First, these programs trace their roots to the 1960s in the height of school desegregation. Tuition-grant laws came forth across the South during this period, enabling White families to access public funds to pay…

The foundation of school choice is offering families a variety of schools and letting them choose one they believe is most suitable for their child. For school choice to matter, schools need to have different features that parents are seeking. The District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program was created by Congress to provide tuition…

This study examined the high school experiences, graduation rates and post-secondary attendance rates of students who received need-based scholarships to attend private elementary schools from the Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore (CSFB). CSFB provides funds to students from low-income families in the Baltimore area to attend the private or…