This three-part primer is designed to educate and inform people about all aspects of school choice and to equip them to participate in the debate as fully informed members of the community. The text: provides a brief historical review of the origins and growth of tax-funded schools nationwide and how they came to be synonymous with public…

Educational choice has been found to result in greater satisfaction across schools by social class, race, and prior achievement. However, few studies have attempted to examine stratification effects across choice and non-choice schools by family educational involvement (FEI). Utilizing survey data from the base year of the National Education…

U.S. students now have four choices of schooling: public schooling, private-religious schooling, private-independent schooling, and home-schooling. Of these options, home-schooling is the most novel. Since legalization across the states in the last few decades, it has grown in importance and legitimacy as an alternative choice. Thus, it is now…

This book asserts that alternative programs remain a practical management strategy for educating diverse student learners, offering specific ideas for program implementation, accountability for student learning, and quality service provision. The information serves as an overview of important factors to consider for those seeking new approaches to…

Presents the pro and con viewpoints about the school voucher system in: "A Case for Including Religiously Affiliated Schools in Publicly Funded Voucher Systems" (Teresa Stanton Collett) and "The Inclusion of Religious Schools in Public Voucher Systems is Unconstitutional" (Caren Dubnoff). (CMK)

Private/public school choice has existed in the Netherlands since 1900. The national government subjects public, Protestant, and Catholic school sectors to equal examination, salary, and capital investment standards. Factors influencing the existence of religious schools in an increasingly irreligious society include community church values;…

Nonpublic school educational choice proposals are largely derived from monetarist economic and social theory and exemplify right-wing privatization goals. The U.S. health care system has plenty of competition among insurers, hospitals, and doctors; but it is the most expensive, least equitable system in the industrial world. The mystical belief…

Voucher plans are undemocratic and will perpetuate class distinctions and the fragmentation of society. The choice agenda will particularize loyalties rather than encourage a sense of common loyalties among people. The individual parent will be forced to claw and scramble for the benefit of his/her kid only. We should not dismantle democratic…

Defines educational voucher programs and summarizes arguments in their favor. Discusses the strength of the voucher movement, the ideology and attitudes behind it, and the current extent of voucher programs in the United States. Reviews research on publicly funded voucher programs, focusing on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the…

A system of completely equal treatment of state and religious denominational elementary schools has existed in the Netherlands since 1920 and is firmly rooted in previous centuries of Dutch history. Development of this "pillarized" educational system is traced and discussed in relation to situations in South Africa and in countries with…

Examines the debate over privatizing public education through educational vouchers, summarizing practical issues raised when the ideals of choice and freedom are translated into real public policy. Addresses two important questions: "How much, and for whom?" and "Do markets produce quality?" Suggests that public educators must show that choice and…

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents' choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations,…

Private foundations can play a critical, catalytic role in changing American public education for the better, but they could and should be getting more bang for their bucks than they are right now. This article reports on a diverse collection of research papers that aims to shed unprecedented light both on the scope of contemporary education…

At this point in his long and varied career in public education, Joe Nathan, the author of this article is beginning to doubt some of his previous stances about the principles under which public schools should operate. He remains, however, a staunch supporter of public charter schools. As he reads Frederick Hess' argument that we need to…

The 2006 Public Opinion Survey on Education in Indiana gauged the attitudes and perceptions of a representative sample of Hoosiers on such key educational issues as kindergarten and pre-kindergarten programs, No Child Left Behind and P.L. 221, school funding and taxes, teacher quality, school choice and charter schools, and the achievement gap in…