School Choice Debates, Research, and Context: Toward Systematic Understanding and Better Educational Policy

• In Event: School Choice and School Improvement

Abstract

The notion of school choice is becoming embedded in the public discourse. The public may not understand the meaning of the many forms of school choice (e.g., charter schools, private schools, magnet schools, vouchers, tuition tax credits, homeschooling), but the notion that parents should have some choice in the education of their children is deeply engrained in U.S. culture.
School choice also is taking root in the education field, in part because of federal efforts over the past decade. For instance, the No Child Left Behind Act promoted choice for families if schools failed to make adequate progress over time. More recently, the Obama administration has called for an expansion of charter schools as part of the $4 billion Race to the Top program, which allocates funding to states. As choice options expand, public debate continues. Politicians scrutinize voucher programs in cities—such as Washington, D.C., and Milwaukee—while policy makers reexamine the role of school choice in post-desegregation school districts. The rigorous study of issues related to school choice is both timely and important for policy makers, practitioners, scholars, and families.
As the school choice movement continues to evolve, so do the related public debates and policy options. There have been cantankerous debates about school choice within academic research and the media. Although these debates rage on in the short-lived cycles of the news media, the debates within the research community—some of which are examined in this paper—have moved on to address the important issues of the variation within and between choice options, their effects on students and families in the short and long term, and the strengths and weaknesses of the sophisticated methods for empirically examining school choice.
This is not to minimize past debates about school choice and their impact on research, policy, and public opinion. Whether they center on the effects of Catholic schools, vouchers, or charter schools, these debates have not only created a media buzz but have also propelled the research community to be transparent and careful in explaining methods, findings, interpretation, and policy implications.
One positive consequence of these debates is that researchers have increased the use of sophisticated, robust, and rigorous methodologies. With the growth in higher-quality school choice research, researchers have contributed in significant ways to the amount of evidence available and are beginning to shed light on such questions as, What are the conditions under which school choice options are effective?
Because of the growth of school choice programs and the amount of research examining them, knowledge is increasing. Knowledge about school choice options has certainly accumulated; but the issue is not about accumulation per se but about “cumulation, the systematic knowledge-building, including revision, within a scholarly community, such that one can—looking backward—see the growth in systematic understanding” (Cohen, 2003, p. 1). This paper not only covers the debates; it takes stock of what we know in terms of systematic understanding of school choice reform.

Authors

• Mark Berends, University of Notre Dame

• Marisa A. Cannata, Vanderbilt University

• Ellen B. Goldring, Vanderbilt University