Current policies in education that support school choice can be a threat but also an opportunity for rural schools that are often at risk of closure or amalgamation/consolidation. Studies from Western Europe found two types of schools using the 'capitals' of the rural environment in different ways: 'community' and 'magnet' schools. Our…

Czech parents place particular emphasis on ensuring the overall quality of life of their child when choosing a school. Our study shows how rural state schools understand this demand. A mixed approach was used in our research. In the first step, administrative data from all schools in municipalities with a population of up to 3,000 was used to…

Most of the literature on student between-track mobility or school choice examines decision making in comprehensive systems or in tracked general education schools. In this article we present data on inter-school mobility (transfers) of upper secondary students in a differentiated educational system with academic, professional and vocational tiers…

Many countries are struggling to reconcile greater flexibility in school choice with the need to ensure quality, equity and coherence in their school systems. This report provides an international perspective on issues related to school choice, especially how certain aspects of school-choice policies may be associated with sorting students into…

The sphere of early childhood education care (ECEC) in the Czech Republic has diversified enormously in the last decade. The article describes this diversification process and, drawing on focus group data, analyses parents' choices within this diversified realm. Based on the parents' selection criteria (significantly influenced by constraints and…

This literature review on school choice analyses the impact of choice schemes on students and on school systems focusing on equity. Reviewing the evidence can be difficult, as the literature is often fragmented and inconclusive, and the political importance of this research often results in high-profile attention given to individual studies rather…

The paper approaches the issue of school choice in an indirect manner by investigating the effectiveness of public, private government-dependent and private independent schools in 19 Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries selected from the PISA 2000 survey for this purpose. In a multilevel approach we estimate these…

This article examines equity in national systems of education in terms of differences in student outcomes, as measured by mathematics achievement scores on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003. The author uses four measures for assessing equity in student outcomes: (1) the strength of the relationship between student…

This paper examines the post-Communist Czech Republic in order to investigate the possible consequences were a major U.S. state to adopt universal education vouchers. Although public schools in the Czech Republic were relatively good post-communism, there was an initial surge in demand for private alternatives. Private schools appear to have…

This paper discusses public support for private education and educational vouchers in post-Communist Hungary and the Czech Republic, which support nonstate schools extensively. Although public schools were relatively good in these countries post-Communism, there was a surge in demand for private alternatives. The paper examines changing market…

School systems aspire to provide equal opportunity for all, irrespective of socio-economic status (SES). Much of the criticism of recent school reforms that introduce accountability, autonomy, and choice emphasizes their potentially negative consequences for equity. This report provides new evidence on how national features of accountability,…

We consider the question whether pupils from the lower social strata perform better in private government-dependent schools than in public or private-independent schools, using the PISA 2000 data on European high schools. In the eighty's, Coleman and Hoffer (1987) found in the USA that the performance of these pupils was better at religious…

The chapters in this book originated as papers for a conference, School Choice and Educational Change, held in March 2000 at Michigan State University. An introductory chapter provides a comparative analysis of the lessons learned from international experience with school-choice policies, based on a review of case studies in several countries. The…

This book, which is designed primarily for undergraduate and graduate students of education, contains 12 papers devoted the New Labour's policies for schools in the United Kingdom. "Introduction" (Jim Docking) presents an overview of the book's contents and lists questions to help evaluate the effectiveness of New Labour's educational…