The Common Core curriculum standards represent the culmination of nearly three decades of federally driven centralization of curriculum--including content, pedagogy, and curriculum-based testing--in American K-12 education. Over the course of this period, decisions moved further away from schools and school systems upward toward higher levels of…

The debate over school vouchers continues as more states offer government dollars to fund private schooling for students as a method of improving choice and quality in K-12 education. Previous research in the charter school sector has found that special education enrollment discrepancies between charters and traditional public schools is likely…

One of the key features of the Dutch education system is freedom of education--freedom to establish schools and organize teaching. Almost 70% of schools in the Netherlands are administered by private school boards, and all schools are government funded equally. This allows school choice. Using an instrument to identify private school attendance,…

Universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) is a popular reform in West Virginia, offering part-time readiness-oriented instruction for four-year-olds and some three-year-olds with special needs. The reform joins public school sites and community partners (private preschool and/or Head Start resources) in the goal of pre-kindergarten for all eligible…

The level of fee remissions offered by private schools bears upon the scope for relying on private schools to provide public benefit. Analyses of education voucher systems have generally ignored the possibility that they will partially crowd out school-financed fee remissions. Moreover, variation in fee remissions between private schools may be…

"Outlook" is the monthly newsletter for the Council for American Private Education (CAPE). Each issue contains information relating to private education such as: new legislation and regulations, the most recent research, court rulings, national trends, federal initiatives, private school news briefs, and more. This issue includes: (1)…

California voters rejected Proposition 174, the "Parental Choice in Education" initiative, by a margin of seven to three. Estimated cost of the campaign, a week before the election, was $20.l million. Despite the defeat, Americans for School Choice, a national organization, has announced plans to launch voucher proposals in 25 states by…

Reviews three ways of discussing and analyzing public and private educational choice: by theoretical issues, evaluation of existing choice programs, and inferences drawn from existing private-public school differences. At present, very little is known about choice's potential effects. Research should move carefully, experimenting with constrained…

This paper compares voucher and tax credit programs on how well they manifest the necessary conditions for market education and allow all families to participate in that market. Voucher programs include targeted and universal programs. The tax credit proposal is a nonrefundable, education credit composed of: a parental choice credit for taxpayers…

This paper presents first-year results of an evaluation of a Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) program which provided scholarships enabling low-income families nationwide to send their K-8 children to private schools of their choice. Families won scholarships through a lottery. Telephone surveys of parents/caretakers of children who took advantage…

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents' choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations,…

This report presents the findings of a survey of both the public's and Catholics' attitudes toward public and Catholic schools and school choice. While members of the general public were more likely to give their own community's schools a high grade, about half of them judged schools nationally as average. Responses were similar for Catholics.…

In 1997, conservative Texas lawmakers introduced a measure for a state-funded voucher program, which was to be limited to low-income students in the state's lowest performing schools. The real objective of the proposal was to set state precedents for state subsidies for private schools. This proposal never made it out of committee in the Texas…

Provides a historical overview of public education, advocates freedom of choice as the best method for distributing education, describes some of the benefits of parental choice, and answers objections to tuition tax credits. (SK)

Reviews federal laws and Supreme Court rulings on aid to nonpublic schools. Contends the current wave of school choice legislation is limited to nonsectarian private schools. Supports the National Catholic Educational Association's agenda for political action and public policy in pursuit of funding for nonpublic schools. (RAJ)