Across OECD countries, education choice is proliferating as parents seek and governments permit choice both inside and outside public education systems. The movement of students out of the common public school, however, varies significantly across jurisdictions and sociodemographic characteristics such as race and class. This variation in…

The Rhode Island Education Policy Primer provides an overview of how public education operates in Rhode Island. The Introduction offers context on the inequitable origins of Rhode Island's public school system, as well as the role that activism has played in expanding educational opportunities. The At a Glance section provides a quick look at…

Parental involvement in public education is an expression of joint responsibility between parents and the state in which parents are expected to "comply" with current educational policy. Moreover, parents are often perceived as "reactive," whereas the educational administration is seen as proactive, mainly by reducing barriers…

The newly created Conservative Education Reform Network (CERN) at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) invited a group of conservative education thinkers to sketch policy proposals that they would like to see in a new education agenda. The only requirement was that they offer suggestions that would complement the traditional conservative…

Since the early 1990s when the nation's first charter school was opened in Minneapolis, the scope and availability of school-based options to parents has steadily expanded. No longer can public education be characterized as a monopoly. Sponsored by the National Center on School Choice (NCSC), this handbook makes readily available the most rigorous…

School choice improves parents' satisfaction with their children's schools, and public schools that face competition have shown improved performance, yet opponents continue to oppose reforms that give parents the opportunity to choose their children's schools. State and federal policymakers should reform existing education policies to give all…

Public education matters, whether you're a student, parent, teacher, administrator, employer, or taxpayer. Although you undoubtedly know something about public education, you may be unaware of important facts about the U.S. educational system or may be surprised to learn how things have changed in recent years. This edition of "A Public…

During the mid-nineteenth century, Americans created the functional equivalent of earlier state religious establishments. Supported by mandatory taxation, purportedly inclusive, and vested with messianic promise, public schooling, like the earlier established churches, was touted as a bulwark of the Republic and as an essential agent of moral and…

Education is a fundamental value of the people of Florida, whose state constitution even calls for a "high-quality system of free public schools." But rather than live up to this commitment, the state--led by Governor Jeb Bush and a Republican legislature--has embarked on a series of programs that undermine public education. This report examines…

Explores aspects of schooling children at home, including legal ramifications, resources available to home schoolers, and outcomes compared to students schooled conventionally. Examines the controversy posed by home schooling for public educators and policymakers. (HTH)

The hostilities that many home school parents hold are deeper than the present circumstances and relations with schools suggest. Nevertheless, involvement of home school parents in public school and educational decision making can occur at all levels of administration. Adaptations for the state, district, and school level are suggested. (BJV)

Reviews the development of home schooling and compulsory education, explores how special education law is interpreted within the framework of home-based education, summarizes state laws that affect home schooling and special education services in rural Minnesota and North Dakota, and summarizes litigation involving home-schooling and special needs…

The purpose of this policy report is to bring coherence to discussions about school reform and to encourage policymakers to use a consistent metric when judging whether reform proposals are serving the needs of children and the nation. The current confusion and policy debates over what is a public school--brought about by recent educational…

During the 1980s and 1990s, state legislatures became significantly involved in developing policy that determined how and where students should be offered their K-12 education. These legislative acts have occurred most notably in the passage of revision of policy dealing with public school finance, charter schools, home schools, choice enrollment,…

Public education matters, whether one is a student, parent, teacher, volunteer, employer, employee, or taxpayer. Although an individual undoubtedly knows something about public education, he may be unaware of important facts about the U.S. education system or may be surprised to learn how things have changed in recent years. In this primer on…