While prior research has examined teachers in rural schools and teachers in charter schools, there has been little research into the intersection of rural and charter schools. Using nationally representative data, we examine the extent to which teacher characteristics, school characteristics, and teacher mobility vary based on the urbanicity of…

Few evaluations have focused on the supply and demand within the education marketplace in a school choice environment. Because traditional public schools are not subject to the same level of competitive pressures as private schools, we expect that measures of school quality--enrollment, academic achievement, and safety--will be more likely to…

Both sides of the debate on school choice point to the failure of schools in choice programs as evidence for their position. To opponents of choice, school failures point to the lack of accountability of the voucher sector, and the need for greater governmental control. To choice supporters, failures represent the marketplace working, as…

In this article we seek to understand the impacts of a third party governance reform implemented by the nonprofit organization, Partners Advancing Values in Education (PAVE), on school-level performance in Milwaukee's maure school choice environment. Specifically, we compare the performance of PAVE and non-PAVE schools on Wisconsin state tests,…

Do market-based policies, like school vouchers, that provide an exit option enhance or diminish parental involvement? I examine this question using original survey data from parents participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the nation's oldest urban voucher program. Voucher students were matched to a set of public school students…

In this article we review the substantial literature on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the U.S.'s oldest and largest urban school voucher program, and use the review to propose an agenda for second generation school voucher research. We review research on student-level impacts, public school response, parental decision-making,…

A large body of research on school choice has examined whether choice-based policies reproduce and exacerbate existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities. While many states have enacted multiple school choice policies at once, most of these studies focus on a single choice-based policy. This study examines enrollment patterns in Detroit in the…

School choice policies have led to a proliferation of new schools opening. While economic theory suggests that new charters would open in high demand locations, limited work examines whether this is, indeed, occurring. Framing our study in geography, we explore both space factors and place factors as contrasting explanations for where new charters…

We examine parents' knowledge of discrete, verifiable facts--what we call "hard knowledge"--in a high school application process. Using parent survey data (n = 658) from the School District of Philadelphia, this study examines whether parents knew the admission criteria and acceptance rate at the high school they most wanted their child…

Recent years have seen a growing push toward Portfolio Management Models that incorporate a variety of "providers" operating public schools. One rationale for this is that such organizations can offer distinct and innovative educational practices. This article describes the Diverse Provider Model implemented in Philadelphia from…

The aim of this article is to outline some major defining aspects of the Swedish controlled school market and to describe and analyze how a number of urban school leaders in the Swedish cities of Stockholm and Malmo define, understand, and respond to the competition they see. Based on interviews with school leaders and research on a wide range of…

Analysts of charter school reform have recently begun to investigate the enrollment patterns of special student populations, namely, low-income students, students classified as special education, and those with English language learner status. Using 3 recent years of data from the New York State School Report Cards and analyzing the charter…

In this essay, the author reviews "Education Reform in New York City: Ambitious Change in the Nation's Most Complex School System," by Jennifer A. O'Day, Catherine S. Bitter, and Louis Gomez. The book under review explores a larger set of issues, and some time has passed. But many of the issues studied remain relevant and the consistent…

One of the key claims of choice advocates is that it will take diverse schooling options to engage all children in learning. In a school system truly open to new providers of instruction and diverse schooling options, private schools and public schools of choice can vie for customers by trying different subject themes and pedagogies. If a school's…

Concerns have been raised over the potential of charter schools to re-segregate the nation's schools. This concern has been expressed mostly with respect to students with disabilities and with respect to ethnic and/or racial minorities. In this study, the enrollment statistics for charter and contiguous non-charter public schools in a large urban…