In 1955, Milton Friedman authored a foundational paper proposing a shift in funding and governance mechanisms for public K-12 schools, suggesting that parents be awarded tuition vouchers that they could use to pay for private sector education services for their children, rather than relying on government provided neighborhood schools. Friedman…

Over the last two decades, education privatization has become a widespread phenomenon, affecting most education systems and giving place to a consistent increase in private school enrolment globally. However, far from being a monolithic phenomenon, privatization advances through a variety of context-sensitive policy processes that translate into…

Public officials are increasingly contracting with the private sector for a range of educational services. With much of the focus on private sector accountability on cost-effectiveness and student performance, less attention has been given to shifts in democratic accountability. Drawing on data from the state of New York, one of the most active…

The 2009-2010 school year marked another year of relatively slow growth in the for-profit education management industry. The greatest increase in profiled companies occurred in the category of small EMOs (education management organizations) (i.e., EMOs that manage three or fewer schools). The authors believe their key finding from the 2007-2008…

Supporters of public education fear attempts to privatize schools, while the private sector has always struggled against the monopolistic power of the public schools that educates almost 90% of all K-12 students. This trepidation has recently been intensified by the creation of a "third sector" that includes charter schools, voucher…

The three major players in the current efforts to privatize schools are the following companies: Education Alternatives, Inc., the Edison Project, and Public Strategies Group Inc. Explanations of their programs include core competencies, economic capability, technological capability, and strategic capability. (MLF)

Public-private partnerships in education exist in various forms around the world, in both developed and developing countries. Despite this, and despite the importance of human capital for economic growth, systematic analysis has been limited and scattered, with most scholarly attention going to initiatives in the United States. This volume helps…

Discuss advantages and disadvantages of the privatization of public schools, including for-profit companies and charter schools. (PKP)

The private sector, including private schools, nonpublic schools, and homeschools, offers a wide variety of education programs for difficult-to-educate students. These students include the overlapping categories of at-risk youth, adjudicated youth, and children with disabilities. This report provides an overview of private-sector programs that…