In the context of school zone discontinuity based on parents' educational level, housing price, and household income, empowering parents to choose children's schools with their own hands has the potential to improve overall access to education by weakening geographical advantages or disadvantages and opening up invisible boundaries between…

On December 10, 2015 President Obama signed the "Every Student Succeeds Act," Public Law 114-95, which will take effect in the fall of 2016 and which replaces No Child Left Behind (NCLB)--the name for the nation's suite of K-12 education laws in effect from 2001 to 2016. There are many similarities between NCLB and ESSA. For example,…

This study investigated the influences of district-related variables on a district's academic performance. Arkansas augmented benchmark examination scores were used to measure a district's scholastic achievement. Spatial analysis fit each district's performance to its geographical location; spatial autocorrelation measured the amount of influence…

According to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, states are required "...to ensure that poor and minority children are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers..." Although the NCLB law and State Education Agencies (SEAs) currently offer very clear definitions of…

This paper highlights three major aspects of recent trends in immigration and their impact on schools: high sustained flows, growing geographic dispersal, and an increase in undocumented immigration. It focuses on such topics as who comes to the United States (legal, humanitarian, and undocumented immigrants); demographic context (income level and…

Michigan is no stranger to the effects of competition. The auto industry was forced to adjust to an onslaught of foreign competition in the 70s and 80s. Now, Michigan's public schools face their own competition in the form of public charter schools. Since 1993, when Michigan became one of the first states in the nation to enact charter…