In recent years, districts have paid special attention to the common practice of "district hopping," families bending geographic school assignment rules by sending a child to a school in a district where the child does not formally reside-usually to a district that is more desirable because of higher performing schools or greater…

Whether they're organizing events, buttonholing legislators, or simply trading ideas and information, a growing number of "parent unions" are attempting to stake out a place in policy debates over education in states and districts, amid a crowded field of actors and advocates. As the term implies, some of these organizations see…

Once considered a way to help integrate racially divided districts, magnet schools today have been forced to evolve, given increasing pressure to provide more public school choices and legal barriers against using race to determine school enrollment. In a post-desegregation era, many large districts like Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore County…

The ability of nonexperimental estimators to match impact estimates derived from random assignment is examined using data from the evaluation of two interdistrict magnet schools. As in previous within-study comparisons, nonexperimental estimates differ from estimates based on random assignment when nonexperimental estimators are implemented…

Integrating our schools is a goal that many of us share. But some seem to have given up on the idea, as plans to boost racial diversity have come under attack, and as the fixation on test scores has narrowed some people's concept of a good education. There is, however, new hope: integration by socioeconomic status. It's a cost-effective, legally…

Connecticut's interdistrict magnet schools offer a model of choice-based desegregation that appears to satisfy current legal constraints. This study presents evidence that interdistrict magnet schools have provided students from Connecticut's central cities access to less racially and economically isolated educational environments and estimates…

Home buyers exercise school choice when shopping for a private residence due to its location in a public school district or attendance area. In this quantitative study of one Connecticut suburban district, we measure the effect of elementary school test scores and racial composition on home buyers' willingness to purchase single-family homes over…

The goal of closing achievement gaps between students of different socioeconomic status and race has eluded public schools for decades. Facing increased pressure from NCLB to reach this goal, some school districts have turned to a new experiment based on an old-fashioned vision: integrating students by socioeconomic income. Kahlenberg reviews the…

Using educational vouchers for private schooling will aggravate the fragmented society that Jonathan Kozol visualizes in the November 1992 issue of "Educational Leadership." However, public schools of choice are desirable because they permit diverse teaching/learning styles, curricular emphases, or organizational structures to coexist…

Magnet schools, created, sponsored, and regulated by states and public school districts, embody a top-down organizational philosophy. Charter schools, started by parents and teachers with distinct minority educational views and sponsored by various agencies, represent bottom-up, innovative philosophies. Connecticut's 1996 law allows only local…

Examines the literature on school choice and desegregation, reviewing the 1997 laws that constituted Connecticut's response to the 1996 state Supreme Court Sheff v. O'Neill desegregation ruling. Presents data on how the new policies have affected the attendance patterns of students belonging to different racial groups, concluding with a discussion…

Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker recently assumed state responsibility for ending racial and economic segregation in suburban and inner-city schools through cooperative, comprehensive five-year planning efforts. Most substantial gains for minority students occur when desegregation plans are metropolitan or countywide. Efforts to combine…

Argues that the following steps will effectuate educational reform: (1) provision of more latitude and flexibility in school governance; (2) business commitment to using and upgrading the inner-city workforce; (3) consumer understanding of rights and options available within public education; and (4) government understanding of the danger of…