Unlike vouchers and tax credit scholarships that do not allow parents to customize their children's education, Education savings accounts (ESAs) provide funding to pay for part-time classes at public and private schools, tutoring, curricula, services for special needs, and more. As navigating the opportunities that come with ESAs can be difficult,…

After "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris" (2002), civil conflict over use of vouchers and taxes to purchase private education, especially in religious schools, largely remained an issue for state courts' jurisprudence. However, in 2010, it returned to the U.S. Supreme Court when Arizona taxpayers challenged the constitutionality of the state's…

In "Education Unbound: The Promise and Practice of Greenfield Schooling," this author argued for new education service-delivery organizations that, free from the constricting norms and rules of traditional providers, focused single-mindedly on executing their model. The challenge for reformers is to recognize that enabling such providers is not…

From tuition vouchers for private schools to charter schools to voluntary transfer programs within and between public school systems, school choice has been at the center of the school reform debate for two decades. But with the voucher movement unable to sustain much momentum, charter schools still serving a small percentage of the nation's…

This report provides an overview of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and the author's plan for evaluating it over a five year period. It also presents a brief summary of the main findings of the four distinct topical reports that the author and his colleagues have completed for 2006-07--the baseline year of the evaluation. Those four…

Discusses eight myths about school choice and attempts to settle some of the main arguments on the basis of experiences in Minnesota and elsewhere. Reviews some of the variety of established choice policies and describes the components of an effective program. (SR)

Promotes and describes the notion of "charter schools" that would be organized by any qualified party, recognized by the state, and open to all comers. (SR)

Discusses the record of magnet schools in increasing and equalizing student opportunity, building educational quality, and improving student learning. (SR)

A year-round magnet elementary school in Salem, Massachusetts, has increased its family involvement by borrowing elements from many models. The school has mixed-age groupings, integrated social services, and community outreach strategies such as a parent center, business-sponsored Friday clubs, and celebrations of learning. (MLH)

This study provides a detailed description of the process by which parents choose schools for their children and the process by which urban schools adjust to the necessity of convincing parents to choose them. The Parent Information Center programs in the Massachusetts communities of Boston, Cambridge, Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell, and Springfield…

The vendor/voucher, or purchase of service, system for child care delivery is discussed as a logical model for communities which are looking for a method of developing a new system or have outgrown their current program. Discussion initially focuses on the increasing need for child care, cost/benefit aspects of child care, the regulation of child…

This booklet provides parents and students with information about individual schools and programs within the Boston Public School system. The first section answers common questions about enrollment procedures, school assignments, bilingual education programs, kindergarten, transportation eligibility, family changes of address, and parent…

The Richmond (California) Unified School District's System for Choice allows parents and students to select from a variety of programs designed to satisfy diverse interests and needs. This publication describes offerings at De Anza High School, a Paideia school. De Anza is the only high school in the district that offers Classical Studies, a…

The experience of the school-choice program in Alum Rock (California) illustrates how a determined effort to reach all parents and provide them with information about choices and programs can have a reasonable degree of success. Parental information is essential in avoiding inequities of opportunity. (SLD)

This paper describes the role of Center for Collaborative Education (CCE) in supporting a unique urban public school network, the Boston Pilot Schools Network. By informing the educational community of its strategies, activities, and challenges, CCE hopes to contribute to the understanding of how change promoted from outside the school can affect…