The question of how school choice programs affect the racial stratification of schools is highly salient in the field of education policy. We use a student-level panel data set to analyze the impacts of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) on racial stratification in public and private schools. This targeted school voucher program provides…

Prior research suggests that parents of Hispanics, English learners, and students living in poverty exercise school choice less frequently than other parents, which may be a factor in the resegregation of public schools. This quasi-experimental, causal-comparative design tests whether ethnicity, language dominance, or socioeconomic status of the…

Since 1990, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) has enabled low and middle-income parents to attend private Milwaukee schools at state expense. In 2010, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction released, for the first time, results of newly required state standardized tests for students using the MPCP. This article uses an original…

We examine what factors predict why some parents enroll their children in voucher schools while other parents with similar types of children and from similar neighborhoods do not. Furthermore, we investigate how aware parents are of their educational options, where they get their information, and what school characteristics they deem the most…

This article reviews educational initiatives of state and federal government that were designed to remedy the effects of racial segregation on Black public school students in the United States after the famous "Brown v. Board of Education" decisions. Several policy and legal initiatives are reviewed, including school desegregation,…

Publicly funded voucher programs attempt to target low-income families, but concern exists as to whether such programs actually "cream" students from public schools. Data collected as part of the evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program are used to examine whether differences exist between three subgroups of…

A secondary analysis of the Alum Rock Educational Voucher Demonstration reveals a failure to implement the major aspects of voucher theory. (Author/AM)

In accordance with the Florida Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP), students attending public schools that receive failing grades are eligible to receive vouchers to attend a higher performing public or private school. An analysis of standardized test performance across a 2-year period compared students attending "F" schools to…

Using the 2002 Zelman v. Simmons-Harris educational voucher case in Cleveland, Ohio, as a point of departure, this article considers the past and current status of urban Catholic schools, appealing to the common good, to a common understanding, and to the common discourse in directing the United States' struggle to meet the needs of a diverse and…

Discusses whether the alternatives to traditional education that were promoted in the past decade have lived up to their promise of creating a school environment that is conducive to learning for all students, focusing on magnet schools, educational vouchers, privatization and charter schools, and home schooling. (SM)

Examines the efficacy of a market approach to school reform (charter schools and choice options), noting that public education should serve the public good. Discusses the move from democratic to market theory, describing losers and winners in market-driven schools. Suggests that most disadvantaged students will be forgotten if market-based policy…

Evaluated the success of the publicly funded school-voucher program in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) using data for 592 students. The Milwaukee experience suggests that privatization in education may result in efficiency gains. Given a choice between public and private schools, Milwaukee parents chose the option best suited for their children. Discusses…

School finance drives policy and practice in public education, yet most citizens and some practitioners know very little about how their schools are funded. The purpose of this article is to address the financial issues related to urban schools and the challenge of balancing expectations of higher levels of education with the values of equity,…

Argues that although moderate Federal deregulation of education may be beneficial, there is a risk that more radical forms of deregulation, such as the diversion of tax revenues to nonpublic schools, is likely to diminish social cohesion in general and equal educational opportunity in particular. (Author/GC)

Discusses school power structures. Cites the following examples of "bottom-up" authority: (1) vouchers; (2) magnet schools; and (3) open enrollment. Suggests a new model in which the larger school districts function as "holding companies" and individual schools function as "subsidiaries" of the parent company. (FMW)