Research Resources/Links
Websites
Alliance for School Choice
www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/research_school_choice.aspx
Black Alliance For Education Options
http://www.baeo.org/
Cato Institute
www.cato.org/research/education/index.html
Center for Education Reform
http://www.edreform.com/
Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation
http://www.cgkfoundation.org/
Donors Trust
http://www.donorstrust.org/
Fordham Foundation
http://www.edexcellence.net/
The Heartland Institute
http://www.heartland.org/
Heritage Foundation
www.heritage.org/Research/Education/SchoolChoice
Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options
http://www.hcreo.org/
Institute For Justice
http://www.ij.org/
Leadership Institute
http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/
Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation
www.friedmanfoundation.org/schoolchoiceworks/index.html
Mackinac Center
http://www.mackinac.org/
Parents In Charge Foundation
http://www.parentsincharge.org/
Philanthropy Roundtable
http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/
School Choice Wisconsin
www.schoolchoiceinfo.org/research/index.cfm
State Policy Network
http://www.spn.org/
State-based think tanks - SPN Directory
www.spn.org/directory
University of Arkansas
www.uark.edu/ua/der/
MUST-READ BOOKS ON SCHOOL CHOICE
The ABCs of School Choice, Friedman Foundation; Profiles current school choice programs around the country, published annually.**
Voucher Wars, Clint Bolick; A comprehensive and moving history of the entire school choice movement and the legal battles leading up to the Zelman decision.
Voices, Choices and Second Chances, Virginia Walden Ford; A history of the D.C. school choice battle, an excellent guide for parents and activists.**
Free To Choose, Milton & Rose Friedman; A treatise on the philosophy and reason behind educational options, from the first school choice activists.
Politics, Markets, and America's Schools, Terry Moe and John Chubb; A keystone book in modern education reform encouraging parental options.
Schools, Vouchers and the American Public, Terry Moe; A profile of public opinion on school choice compiled from an extensive national survey.
What America Can Learn from School Choice in Other Countries, David Salisbury, James Tooley; Excellent overview of choice options in other countries.
Education Myths, Jay P. Greene; An excellent resource offering solid research to debunk common school choice myths and arguments against parental choice.
Cheating Our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education, Joe Williams; A diary of insights from Williams' years as an education reporter.
Market Education, Andrew Coulson; A comprehensive history of education offering evidence of effective choice options from history and other countries.
Public Education: An Autopsy; Myron Lieberman, A strong critique of the American public school system, recommending market-based options.
Common Sense School Reform, Frederick M. Hess; Challenges "status quo" reforms and encourages flexibility for teachers and market-based options.
Choosing Equality, Joseph P. Vitteritti; A profile of educational choices that close the minority achievement gap and rescue students in failing schools.
Power Grab, G. Gregory Moo; A profile of the National Education Association and its negative effects on education, student achievement and reform efforts.
**Copies of this book are available to attendees at the Education Reform Summit; to have your copy mailed to you, email lmoser@allianceforschoolchoice.org.
Must-Read Studies
Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee
by Jay Greene
Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, School Choice Wisconsin, September 2004
This study examines whether students in Milwaukee experience greater educational success if they use a voucher to attend a private school rather than remaining in public schools. While early high-quality research on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program suggested that they do, it has been almost a decade since those early evaluations, and critics have continued to question whether the program provides students with better educational opportunities. This study calculates graduation rates for choice students and students remaining in public schools in order to provide new evidence on whether Milwaukee's voucher program benefits students academically. Choice students in Milwaukee graduate high school at much higher rates (64 %) than students in its public schools (36%). What's more, their graduation rates are higher than those at selective public high schools (41%)whose students are likely to be more advantaged in their background than Milwaukee's choice students, who are disproportionately poor and minority. This indicates that choice students' higher graduation rates are unlikely to be the result of any demographic bias in the student population.
http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/_DOCs/grad_rates_milwaukee.pdf
Rising Tide, How Choice Improves Public Schools
by Caroline Hoxby - Education Next, Winter 2001
Hoxby comprehensively reviews how school choice affects productivity. She begins by describing the importance of school productivity, then explains the economic logic that suggests that choice will affect productivity, and finishes by presenting much of the available evidence on school choice and school productivity. The most intriguing evidence comes from three important, recent choice reforms: vouchers in Milwaukee, charter schools in Michigan, and charter schools in Arizona. She shows that public school students' achievement rose significantly and rapidly in response to competition under each of the three reforms. Public school spending was unaffected, so the productivity of public schools rose, dramatically in the case in Milwaukee.