Crises have a way of shaking up the status quo and creating space for new thinking. When shocked out of their familiarity, people start to ask questions as to why things are the way that they are and brainstorm ways to make them better. Enter entrepreneurs. They are the people who take those ideas that are lying around and attempt to create…

The issues and arguments surrounding school choice are sometimes hijacked to make political points about government control, democratic ideals, the public good, and privatization. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, David Garcia avoids partisan arguments to offer an accessible, objective, and comprehensive guide to school…

The deregulation movement has impacted the social, political, and economic landscape in the United States and continues to do so. In this article, we briefly summarize the general history of deregulation in this country and the meaning of deregulation within the specific context of education policy and reform. We focus on deregulation efforts…

This report summarizes the state of competition in American K-12 education. It pays particular attention to the prevalence and market penetration of charter schools, private school vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships as market reforms. The effect of added institutional competition from charters, vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships on the…

This paper highlights emerging trends, programmes and policies in privatization of education in Western countries. These trends are educational vouchers, choice of private schools, private school liberalization, private contracting of specific services, tuition tax credits and deductions for parents ,subsidies and assistance grants to private…

School choice is a common sense idea that gives all parents the power and freedom to choose their child's education, while encouraging healthy competition among schools and other institutions to better serve students' needs and priorities. It is a public policy that allows a parent/guardian or student to choose a district, charter, or private…

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…

Seventeen years ago, the Lagunitas School District (California) decided to honor the wide range of parent values and expectations by setting up alternative curricula. Options presently include an Academics and Enrichment program, a Montessori program, open classrooms, home study, and transfer to another school district. Nontraditional student…

Controversies over the merits of public and private education have never been more prominent than today. This book evaluates public and private schooling, especially in regard to choices families must make for their children. While choice among public schools is widely advocated today by families and states, public support for private…

In Uxbridge, Massachusetts, a small working-class mill town, free-market reform rhetoric has become reality. The tiny district has adopted controversial changes, such as giving vouchers to parents of Title I students, reimbursing home-schooling parents, lengthening the school day and year, adopting flexible scheduling, allowing credit for Internet…

Because Americans are spending increasing sums on education without noticeable improvement in student achievement, school choice is becoming the hottest item on today's reform agenda. Choice must not be limited to the affluent; it is most needed by financially poor parents whose children are trapped in the most inferior schools. The chief…

This book describes how and why educational choice movements will affect public education. It uses a public-choice approach to argue that both the supporters and opponents of private and school choice have failed to address several critical issues. Following an introductory chapter, chapter 2 is devoted to the rationale for contracting out…

In this article, the author discusses the idea of "Pell Grants for Kids," a plan that would provide a $500 scholarship to each middle- and low-income child in America. Children could use these scholarships at any public or private school or for any educational program, such as private tutoring. Homeschooled children would also be…

This statistically representative survey of 1,203 likely Virginia voters illustrates public opinion on a wide range of K-12 education issues. The underlying purpose of the Friedman Foundation's state surveys is to measure voter knowledge and attitudes toward public institutions and policies, innovative ideas, and the state's K-12 education system.…