Pupil premium is a direct grant paid to state-funded schools in England which aims to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils aged 5-16. As disruption to learning during the COVID-19 pandemic had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils, the recovery premium grant was introduced in 2021 to help address this. Recovery premium funding finished…

School finance equity is an essential component of educational equity. In an equitable system, public schools receive funds to provide a high-quality education for all based on the needs of students, not on the property wealth of communities. Funding inequity also disproportionately affects students of color. Districts serving the largest…

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. Although prior studies of this nature have been limited to Florida and Milwaukee, using multiple…

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) offer parents a publicly funded, government-authorized savings account they can draw on for certain K-12 educational expenses. As these programs have expanded in recent years, they have become a flashpoint in education policy debates. For some, ESAs are an extension of existing private school choice programs'…

The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the nation's only source of dedicated federal funding to support the creation, expansion, and replication of public charter schools. Since FY2019, the CSP has been flat funded at $440 million. The CSP amounts to less than 1% of federal spending on K-12 education, however, it has a substantial impact on the…

This mixed-methods case study examines the emergency financial management legislation enacted in Michigan from 2009 to 2018 as an education policy for governance reform in three local school districts: Detroit, Highland Park, and Muskegon Heights. From its inception, the emergency financial manager law was an intervention strategy for local…

We investigated the impact of a subsidized, needs-based preschool program (Study 1; N = 1,894) and California's universal but age-restricted transitional kindergarten (TK) program (Study 2; N = 1,093) on school readiness. We applied Mahalanobis matching--a quasi-experimental data analysis method used to create equivalent groups--to data from three…

Vermont provides state-funded preK to all 3 to 5 year olds through a mixed-delivery system. This study describes the enrollment rates of children with different characteristics who enrolled in different types of preK programs in the first year of implementation (2016/17). Overall, these findings indicate higher proportions of higher-needs students…

In 2016, Chile implemented a policy of free higher education (gratuity) for secondary school graduates from families in the lower income range. One of the stated objectives of the new policy was to increase the access of secondary school graduates from families with lower levels of education. To answer that concern, we analyzed administrative data…

In 2016, Maryland adopted the Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) voucher program that helps pay K-12 private school expenses for low-income households. BOOST vouchers target low-income families. Funds are available to public school students as well as children in private schools and homeschools who qualify for free or…

This paper discusses the potential fiscal effects of education savings accounts for K-12 in New Jersey on the state and local taxpayers. Education savings accounts are a way to expand educational opportunity for all families, particularly those in need. For parents who voluntarily elect to customize their child's education, a specified amount is…

Researchers from across the country have published at least 187 empirical studies on the effectiveness of private school choice programs. The "EdChoice Study Guide" is an annually updated guide to the available research on private school choice programs in America. In this guide, one can learn what the body of rigorous research says…

For state-funded preschool programs the compensation of teachers is a critical issue for program quality and effectiveness. If preschool programs are to attract and retain teachers comparable to those in primary schools, preschool teachers must receive comparable pay and benefits. This brief assesses compensation parity between state-funded…

Opponents of educational choice recycle the same false prophesies of doom without regard to the evidence or the size and scope of the proposals. Part I of this report assesses the validity of choice opponents' predictions that choice policies will lead to significant losses of district school funding and declining academic performance. Part II of…

Researchers from across the country have published at least 175 empirical studies on the effectiveness of private school choice programs. For most, that's an overwhelming amount of literature to tackle. The EdChoice Study Guide is an annually updated guide to the available research on private school choice programs in America. In this guide, one…