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School Choice in the District of Columbia
School Choice in the Cleveland, Ohio
School Choice in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin
School choice can be an impetus for positive change within a public school district. Research and media reports illustrate how public schools have responded favorably to school choice programs.
"In areas where public and private schools compete for the same students, [Harvard Economics Associate Professor Caroline] Hoxby's research showed even more pronounced academic improvements. Among students transferring from public to private school, Hoxby found a 12 percent increase in future wage gains and a 12 percent increase in the probability of college graduation. Hoxby also found an 8-percentile point improvement in the test scores of the students in these areas who remained in public schools. From this research, Hoxby concludes that public schools respond positively to competition by improving curriculum."
Nina Shokraii Rees, "Public School benefits of Private School Vouchers," Policy Review No. 93, January-February 1999.
"Rather than seeing a negative impact from private schools, public schools see improved results as they respond to the competition that private schools present . . . . For instance, increasing the percentage of private school students in a school district from zero to 25 percent raises the percentage of students passing the 4th grade proficiency test by almost six percent . . . . Increasing private school enrollment in low-spending districts by 25 percent would increase public school performance on the 9th grade proficiency exam by 4.1 percent, while increasing spending per student in these same districts would have no significant effect."
"Private School Competition Improves Public School Performance," The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Policy Note, December 1998, based on Richard Vedder and Joshua Hall, Private Schools and Public School Performance: Evidence from Ohio, Ohio University, August 1998.
"[Richard Vedder and Joshua Hall] found that when viable private school alternatives exists, competition between public and private schools increases the salaries of public school teachers. Vedder and Hall found that competition between private and public schools could increase salaries by more than 5 percent."
"Private School Competition Raises Salaries of Public School Teacher," The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, Policy Note, December 1988, based on Richard Vedder and Joshua Hall, Private Schools and Public School Teacher Salaries, Ohio University, February, 1999.
Milwaukee: A noted Harvard economist, Caroline M. Hoxby, investigated the impact on public school productivity of vouchers in Milwaukee (and of charter schools in Michigan and Arizona). In Milwaukee, she analyzed: MPS schools most likely to have been affected by competition; Those less likely to have been affected by competition; and A control group of Wisconsin public schools not exposed to vouchers. She concluded:
"Overall, an evaluation of Milwaukee suggests that public schools have a strong, positive response to competition from vouchers. . . .[S]chools that faced the most potential competition from vouchers had the best productivity response."
"School Choice and School Productivity (Or, Could School Choice be a Tide that Lifts All Boats?)," Harvard University, forthcoming, in Education Next, Winter, 2001.
"Low-income Milwaukee Public School parents have long complained about the unpredictable continuity for their children, and are especially disadvantaged by racial and geographical restrictions from entering MPS's most popular schools in the lottery random selection process. We increased educational continuity at five schools . . . . We authorized two elementary schools to contract for expanded classroom space . . . . In an historic action, the MPS board voted to close six schools we identified as failing and to reconstitute these schools' administrations and faculties."
John Gardner, at large member of the Milwaukee Public Schools Board of Directors and member of the NAACP and ACLU in a 1997 affidavit submitted in defense of the parental choice program for both Jackson v Benson and Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association v. Benson, two cases which challenged the constitutionality of the program.
"There are some preliminary indications that public schools are attempting reforms to address the competitive challenge from choice programs. For example, in Milwaukee the public schools have promised to provide individual tutoring to any student not reading at grade level by grade 3, a policy that they have advertised on billboards."
Jay P. Greene, "A Survey of Results from Voucher Experiments: Where We Are and What We Know," Prepared for the Conference on Charter Schools, Vouchers, and Public Education, Sponsored by the Program on Education Policy and Governance, Harvard University, and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, March 8-10, 2000, pg. 16.
Florida: An evaluation sponsored by the Florida Department of Education identified positive effects of the A+ scholarship program on the state's public schools. The report declared:
"The Florida A-Plus Program is a school accountability system with teeth. . . .[T]he A-Plus Program has been successful at motivating failing schools to improve their academic performance. . . .[S]chools receiving a failing grade from the state in 1999 and whose students would have been offered tuition vouchers if they failed a second time achieved test score gains more than twice as large as those achieved by other schools. . . [T]he performance of students on academic tests improves when public schools are faced with the prospect that their students will receive vouchers."
"An Evaluation of the Florida A-Plus Accountability and School Choice Program," Florida State University, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, and Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance, February 15, 2001.
Highlights of Schools' Specific Efforts:
"[Bibbs and Dixon elementary schools] got special consideration on grants plus extra money from the state and their school district. Class sizes dropped from 35 students in some cases to fewer than 20. About $1,200 more was spent per student this year on classroom materials, computers, software and teacher training."
Heidi Hall, "Humiliated But Defiant, F Schools Fight Back," Sun-Sentinel, March 4, 2000.
"In Hillsborough County, Superintendent of Schools Earl Lennard made statewide news recently when he vowed to take a 5-percent pay cut, or a personal loss of $8,250 if any school in Hillsborough County receives an 'F' grade."
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, "Poor School Children Aren't Destined to Fail," Tallahassee Democrat, September 9, 1999.
In Broward County school officials are spending millions to reduce class size for first graders to 18-20 per class in 104 low-performing schools.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, "Poor School Children Aren't Destined to Fail," Tallahassee Democrat, September 9, 1999.
In Hillsborough County they are reducing class size in D schools and increasing funds for after school and Saturday tutoring in all schools.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, "Poor School Children Aren't Destined to Fail," Tallahassee Democrat, September 9, 1999.
In Miami Dade County, school officials are shifting $11 million in federal funds to increase math and reading instruction at schools with low scores. Officials are also hiring 210 additional teachers to work at 26 different schools that received F grades, and elementary schools in Miami-Dade County will reduce their class size by up to half."
Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Lt. Governor Frank Brogan, "Poor School Children Aren't Destined to Fail," Tallahassee Democrat, September 9, 1999.
"As a part of implementing the district's Staff Assistance Plan for 1998-1999 the following interventions, action and programs were implemented at A. A. Dixon Elementary and Spencer Bibbs Academy:
- Expanded the extended day activities by increasing resources for the Neighborhood Learning Center Programs for small group tutorials in the afternoon and on Saturdays.
- Expanded family literacy and home visitor programs by assigning additional personnel from the Florida First Start, Even Start and Title I Family Resource Model for Early Education (FAME) programs.
- The district allocated additional classroom teachers, above the regular allocation formula.
- Gave assistance in writing grants for curriculum enhancements and new program implementation, e.g. Reading Readiness, and Early Literacy Enhancement."
"Escambia County Public Schools District Assistance and Intervention Plan," Escambia County School District, Florida, 1999, pp. 2-3.
"For the 1999-2000 School year, the district will continue the interventions, activities, and programs listed above and will implement the following strategies: · Decrease the number of days that teachers are out of class by scheduling staff development activities around alternative dates and times. · Require teacher/parent conferences each grading period. · Extend the school year by thirty (30) days."
"Escambia County Public Schools District Assistance and Intervention Plan," Escambia County School District, Florida, 1999, pp. 2-3.
The Florida School Recognition Program:
Florida Department of Education, Tom Gallagher, Commissioner, "1999-2000 Florida School Recognition Program."
See Also:
LESSONS FROM FLORIDA ON SCHOOL CHOICE By Jeanne Allen, Scripps Howard News Service, July 31, 2000
CER Press Release: GROUNDBREAKING REPORT SHOWS COMPETITION FROM SCHOOL CHOICE SPARKS WIDESPREAD PUBLIC SCHOOL REFORM, April 24, 2000.
Report: COMPETING TO WIN How Florida's A+ Plan Has Triggered Public School Reform.
Milwaukee
Several reports link positive developments in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) to school choice.
Wisconsin's largest newspaper, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reported that several public schools in Milwaukee have received "more freedom to shape their programs than traditional [public] schools. . . The schools clearly were aiming to reshape themselves to be more appealing in a more competitive school market." (November 15, 2000)
The Journal Sentinel later reported on changes in "the fundamental realities of how many [public] schools operate in Milwaukee." It described "decisions to make schools more independent, more innovative, more attuned to their communities -and, most of all, more popular with parents in an era where Milwaukee parents have more choices for publicly funded education than perhaps anyone in American history." (November 28, 2000)
On January 7, 2001, the paper reported that "the spirit of choice is permeating the [MPS]. . . [S]chools are trying with once-unthinkable earnestness to win over parents." A January 23, 2001, editorial said, "Milwaukee's choice program [has] put pressure on Milwaukee Public Schools to improve."
Within this new environment, MPS campaigned to encourage parents to choose public schools. The campaign included print and broadcast ads, billboards, and open houses. MPS Superintendent Spence Korte stressed that MPS wants to be competitive. Appearing statewide on Wisconsin Public Television, Korte said:
"Like many other monopolistic operations, you get a little bit complacent when you're the only game in town. . . We needed to be able to compete, to really get better, and to be more sensitive to what parents are telling us they need." (January 12, 2001)
Interviewed earlier on Milwaukee's WTMJ TV (NBC), Korte had said,
"We are dedicating ourselves to make sure that public schools know how to reach out and know how to serve families, and we're the logical place for people to start for their educational programs. We hope they'll give us a good look." (January 10, 2001)
The district's appeal to parents paid off. The Journal Sentinel recently reported, "Enrollment in [MPS] unexpectedly climbed this fall, reversing a three-year slump, as an intense marketing campaign began to bear fruit." The article said "MPS has been losing students since the 1997-98 school year because fewer children are being born in Milwaukee and because the district must compete for that shrinking pie with the private school choice and charter school programs." (October 5, 2001)
The Journal Sentinel reported that according to citywide school board member John Gardner,
"MPS was winning families over by aggressively promoting its schools and by paying more attention to parents' requests for child care, smaller class sizes, specialized education programs and other improvements. Budget rules that give each school in the district a set amount of money per student gave school administrators and teachers an incentive to seek more students, [Gardner] said.... ' Where schools go out and knock on doors, it has a huge impact on parents, ' board member Joe Dannecker said. 'They actually get interested and are willing to go down and visit the school. ' "
Janie Hatton, a longtime MPS administrator who became principal of North Division High School this year, described a full-court press by teachers, parents, students and even local ministers to pull in children.
"' Many of the students were the best salespersons for our school, ' Hatton said. 'They went out and told people, "We're doing something different in school this year." '"
While it involves a much smaller group of students than in Milwaukee, the structure of Florida's Opportunity Scholarship Program, with its target of chronically failing schools statewide, has had a positive statewide impact. A series of articles reported on incentives for improvement provided by the state's A to F ranking of schools (students at a school with two F's in a four-year period get vouchers).
"Though the Albany Board of Education initially ridiculed Mrs. Gilder's program as a 'political stunt,' it quickly made sweeping changes this summer to restore community confidence in Giffen. It replaced the principal, brought in nine new teachers, added two assistant principals and pledged an additional $125,000 for books, equipment and teacher training."
James Dao, "How to Make a Poor School Change; A Well-Financed Exodus of Students Is Countered by a Flurry of Fixing," The New York Times, September 29, 1997, p. B1.
"By midsummer, Lonnie Palmer, the newly hired superintendent [of Albany City Schools], appointed veteran administrator Maxine Fantroy-Ford as principal and a cadre of new teachers. Palmer also added two assistant principals, a move that staff members say allows Fantroy-Ford, who has a reputation for meticulous planning and high standards, to make frequent visits to the classrooms to see how things are going. . . . Giffen also brought in Michael Valentine, a California-based school discipline expert. . . . Valentine trains teachers to explain effectively and unambiguously what is expected of kids when it comes to behavior."
Rick Karlin, "Giffen Galvanized to do Better," The Albany Times Union, March 8, 1998.
School Choice Facts
compiled by
The Institute For Justice
and
Marquette University, Institute for the
Transformation of Learning, Office of Research
and
Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation