School Choice and School Improvement

In what ways can the effects of school choice be generalized from one setting to the next? What common lessons can be learned? School Choice and School Improvement brings together a collection of exemplary, policy-relevant papers that examine how communities, districts, and states use choice as a strategy for improving schools and student learning. The book includes sophisticated and insightful research on private schools and vouchers; charter schools and traditional public schools; and intradistrict transfer programs, adding depth and perspective to the ongoing debates about school choice options. The authors provide rigorous research and empirical data to answer central policy questions. What is the impact of school choice on student outcomes? In systems that provide school choice, do parents choose to move their children from low-achieving schools to higher-achieving schools? Does school choice result in increased competition among schools? What is the relationship between school choice and racial or ethnic segregation in the schools? The chapters in this volume collectively exemplify the directions in which research on school choice is developing and push the field toward a more systematic and nuanced understanding of the impact of school choice. "What a gift for the inquisitive reader on school choice! The variety of topics and willingness of the authors to ponder what has been learned from the evidence is in stark contrast to the usual ideological lectures and interpretation. The reader will learn much about current policy questions and answers, and the further questions that arise from the evidence." -- Henry M. Levin, William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University "School choice is a heated topic in education policy circles, often driven more by political proclivities than by solid data and analysis. In this volume, noted scholars use hard analytic lenses, rich data, and sophisticated methods to examine school choice as a nuanced education reform strategy that transcends standard political platitudes." -- Jane Hannaway, director, Education Policy Center, the Urban Institute/Calder Center Mark Berends is professor of sociology, director of the University of Notre Dame's Center for Research on Educational Opportunity, and director of the National Center on School Choice. Marisa Cannata is a senior research associate in the department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations and associate director of the National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University. Ellen B. Goldring is Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Education Policy and Leadership and chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University.