Open enrollment is a form of school choice that gives families the opportunity to choose an educational setting or school within the public school system that is best for their children. In U.S. public school districts, students typically must attend the school that is in their neighborhood and often do not have a choice of attending a different…

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 paper examines the characteristics that influence the number of transfers between school districts. Using data on 2018-19 transfers between Indiana's 289 traditional public school districts, we examine observed transfer flows. Model results show that standardized test scores and distance between school districts have the largest impact on the…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether factors of social comparison theory influence public school choice in Indiana. There were two arms in the study. One arm used three district-level variables (parent education level, socioeconomic status, and homogeneity of race) associated with social comparison theory (SCT) and five…

Opponents of educational choice recycle the same false prophesies of doom without regard to the evidence or the size and scope of the proposals. Part I of this report assesses the validity of choice opponents' predictions that choice policies will lead to significant losses of district school funding and declining academic performance. Part II of…

Purpose: This study investigates parental empowerment, involvement, and satisfaction in charter, Catholic, Christian, and district-run public schools. The analyses of these indicators across school types also differentiate parents who chose district-run public schools through residential selection from those who did not. Research Design: A survey…

This report follows up on previous work that examined the fiscal effects of private school voucher programs. It estimates the total fiscal effects of tax-credit scholarship programs--another type of private school choice program--on state governments, state and local taxpayers, and school districts combined. Based on a range of assumptions, these…

For much of the last two decades, beginning with the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2002, the top political leaders have shown concern about children stuck in failing public schools. NCLB required districts to do something -- not enough, but something -- about those schools. Millions of children still languish in low-performing schools,…

In this report, the authors examine the responses of Indiana school parents from all sectors to a survey--developed by EdChoice and conducted by Hanover Research--that aims to measure what motivates them to choose schools, their children's schooling experiences, their awareness of school choice options, their satisfaction levels, and the goals…

In this report, a school choice advocacy group presents results from its survey of K-12 parents within and across the public and private sectors. They report that parents are highly satisfied with voucher and tax credit scholarship programs and suggest that the findings support the expansion of school choice programs. However, these and other…

The current study aimed to reach a deeper understanding of the effects of charter schools by examining student achievement in one unique setting--Indianapolis. Although the charter school initiative in Indianapolis has received national recognition for its innovations, entrepreneurial leaders, and capacity to build local support (Skinner, 2007),…

During the course of each calendar year since 2003, staff of the Center for Evaluation & Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University evaluates the benefits of continuing the Annual Public Opinion Survey on K-12 Education in Indiana. In 2008, the Indiana legislature determined that school corporations would no longer use property tax revenues…

Addressing the many complex issues associated with culture, race, and diversity is tough under any circumstances. But such issues become even more complex in school settings where large numbers of students speak different languages and reflect diverse ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses. In this article, the author describes how the faculty…