Measures to improve parent and student choice of school have recently become an important issue for educational reform in a number of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. This book summarizes the school-choice experiences of selected OECD countries. The data, collected by the OECD/Centre for Educational Research…

This report is the first in a series exploring a variety of the organizational spaces being developed under strategies to change and improve K-12 education in Minnesota. One strategy seeks to create an environment that focuses on creating new and different schools and with them new choices for students and families. These reports are designed to…

This report explores the continued and intense interest in the nation's largest transfer of inner-city students to suburban high schools, that of the Boston (Massachusetts) metropolitan area. The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunities (METCO) was established by black educators and parents in 1963 to offer students the opportunity to…

In vocational education and training (VET), user choice is a means of achieving a more client-responsive training system by allowing clients to have greater choice over how their training needs are met. Funding arrangements linked in some direct way to the expressed demands of individual clients are essential for effective operation of a user…

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study 1988 indicate that, controlling the availability of opportunities for school choice, African Americans and Hispanics show a greater propensity to take advantage of those opportunities than do whites and Asian Americans. Parents with lower levels of education were also more likely to use the…

Behind this discussion of minority achievement is a story of one who transcended poverty and rose to the top of American education. Carol Swain advises that a student from a poor family should not be penalized because her parents are not able to involve themselves in school. This and other recommendations on policy reflect a profoundly personal…

This book argues that public education no longer fosters in students basic skills, scientific and cultural literacy, civic virtues, and desirable habits/attitudes toward society and its institutions. The book asserts that government provision of goods and services is usually less effective and efficient than provision through a market system. It…

This paper argued that a general theory that can provide a precise definition of educational goals and the means to accomplish them is absolutely necessary to resuscitate schooling, and that the classroom is the place where theory can be developed and tested. The paper makes the following points: (1) a general theory is vitally needed to deal with…

This paper describes the use of tuition tax credits and vouchers as political alternatives of choice and competition in a progressive society. School and public administration theorists identify two distinct finance models: the rational and the political. The first part of this paper examines and describes these two models. The next part…

This report analyzes a set of interlocking placement and labeling practices that heavily influence access to educational opportunities in the nation's largest urban school systems. The practices analyzed include high school admission, within-school tracking and grouping, and grade promotion and retention. Study conclusions and related…

This study examines the fiscal impact of model legislation that would create Education Access Grants in Minnesota. The legislation would provide grants for low-income students to attend private schools. Specifically, this study examines the effect of implementing Education Access Grants in Minneapolis, the state's largest metropolitan area. It…

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…

Presents reflections of a former headmaster on the role of private schools and the importance of the choices they can provide. Proprietary schools that work say something visionary and hopeful even to public schools by illustrating the survival of multiple voices in a community. (SLD)

This report answers questions that the Governors' Task Force on Education raised in their 1993 report "The Debate on Opportunity-to-Learn Standards." To assist states as they contemplate how to link school finance with the goals of education reform, the National Governors' Association invited six experts on various aspects of school finance and…

This document presents arguments to counter nine criticisms, or "lies," most frequently leveled at school choice. The criticisms include the following: (1) the undermining America argument: Choice will destroy the American public school tradition; (2) the creaming argument: Choice will leave the poor behind in the worst schools; (3) the…