This study treats Indiana (2010-2018) as a case in which to examine media-based coverage, deliberation, and ethical and empirical framings as school choice reforms were being taken up and as they evolved and accelerated. Within this time-frame, Indiana transformed into a leading state in school choice reforms. Both repetitive and shifting…

As one of the key elements of the Nordic welfare model, education systems are based on the idea of providing equal educational opportunities, regardless of gender, social class and geographic origin. Since the 1990s, Nordic welfare states have undergone a gradual but wide-ranging transformation towards a more market-based mode of public service…

This interview study explored the experience of principals as they mediate reforms marked by high-stakes accountability and competition between schools at the intersection of gentrification occurring in their school communities. School principals of high schools within New York City are called to mediate mandated school choice with the continued…

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…

Microschools, small schools that educate five to 15 students, have been among the most interesting recent developments in the K-12 reform world. Neither homeschooling nor traditional schooling, they exist in a hard-to-classify space between formal and informal learning environments. One of the most prominent microschooling networks, Prenda, was…

The "Wall Street Journal" declared 2011 the "year of school choice" after 13 states enacted new choice policies or expanded existing ones. This brief discusses coalitions as the secret ingredient of the choice movement's success and shares lessons learned from the most effective coalitions. Key points include: (1) parental…

This essay queries how ideas about school choice traversed the Pacific in the late twentieth century. Specifically, it reconstructs and deconstructs the visits of two African American proponents of parental school choice, Annette "Polly" Williams and Howard Fuller, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Aotearoa New Zealand in the 1990s. Drawing…

This article analyses the narratives and counter-narratives which characterised the struggle between the Chicago Public School Board (CPS) and the Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU) preceding the 2019 Chicago teachers' strike. This was an extraordinary event which has received little scholarly attention. The paper explores the types and uses of the…

Homeschooling in America enjoyed significant and dependable growth for decades. However, federal estimates of homeschool participation failed to show statistically significant growth for the first time in 2012. Many dismissed this as measurement error and awaited the next round of federal estimates. In the fall of 2017 those estimates were…

This article focuses on the interplay between institutional arrangements, family strategies, and market devices in the transition to higher education (HE) in France with a view to documenting both persistent features of the French 'conservative' educational regime and recent changes, in particular those related to neo-liberal influences. Using a…

They show up shouting at school board meetings with endless complaints. The press interviews them as though they are "regular moms" looking out for their children, but they are not. They are a well-funded façade for the Koch, Walton, and DeVos families to disrupt and destroy public education. In our new report, author and academician…

Arizona's "Wild West," free-market education approach via school-choice policies reflects the expansion of neo-liberal reforms, which emphasize private provision and governance of public services once markets are established. Indeed, charter schools, tax credit programs for public (state) and private schools, inter-district open…

The Nordic countries are often perceived as a coherent group representing the Nordic model of welfare states, with a strong emphasis on the public provision of universal welfare and a strong concern with social equality. But today we see a change in the Nordic model as part of a global knowledge economy. The aim of this article is to examine…

A substantial body of research has shown how white, middle-class parents in urban school districts use school choice as a tool to pursue educational advantages for their children. The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine the debate over neighborhood schools and school choice among a diverse group of parents in a gentrifying, yet…

Since the 1990s, charter schools have spread rapidly across the nation. The replication and expansion of charter schools has become a common feature of the portfolio management model which situates the district as strategic manager of a choice-based system including traditional and charter schools. Yet, many school districts have experienced…