Charting the Rise of School Choice across Canadian Provinces: A Policy Index

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Salar Asadolahi ◽  
James Farney ◽  
Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos ◽  
Linda A. White
Keyword(s):  
Public Education ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Private Education ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
School Choice Policy ◽  
Canadian Provinces ◽  
Choice Policy ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This article introduces and discusses the findings of the Canada School Choice Policy Index (CSCPI). This is the first index of its kind that measures the development of school choice policies across the Canadian provinces from 1980 to 2020 using eight unique indicators of choice. In contrast to other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the CSCPI reveals that although Canada has witnessed an increase in school choice over time, this increase has largely been contained within public education systems rather than in the expansion of private education options. Our findings raise the importance of future research to address growing choice in public education systems across the provinces, in addition to choice in the private sphere.

scholarly journals The governors of school markets? Local education authorities, school choice and equity in Finland and Sweden

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne Varjo ◽  
Ulf Lundström ◽  
Mira Kalalahti
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
School Achievement ◽  
Geographic Origin ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Education Systems ◽  
Local Education ◽  
Equal Educational Opportunities ◽  
Choice Policy ◽  
Welfare Model

As one of the key elements of the Nordic welfare model, education systems are based on the idea of providing equal educational opportunities, regardless of gender, social class and geographic origin. Since the 1990s, Nordic welfare states have undergone a gradual but wide-ranging transformation towards a more market-based mode of public service delivery. Along this trajectory, the advent of school choice policy and the growing variation in the between-school achievement results have diversified the previously homogenous Nordic education systems. The aim of our paper is to analyse how Finnish and Swedish local education authorities comprehend and respond to the intertwinement of the market logic of school choice and the ideology of equality. The data consist of two sets of in-depth thematic interviews with staff from the local providers of education, municipal education authorities. The analysis discloses the ways in which national legislation has authorized municipal authorities to govern the provision of education.

The effects of a free school choice policy on parents’ school choice behaviour

2011 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 230-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert Altrichter ◽  
Johann Bacher ◽  
Martina Beham ◽  
Gertrud Nagy ◽  
Daniela Wetzelhütter
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Free School ◽  
School Choice Policy ◽  
Choice Policy

Surviving at the Street Level: How Counselors’ Implementation of School Choice Policy Shapes Students’ High School Destinations

2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Sattin-Bajaj ◽  
Jennifer L. Jennings ◽  
Sean P. Corcoran ◽  
Elizabeth Christine Baker-Smith ◽  
Chantal Hailey
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
New York ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Street Level ◽  
School Choice Policy ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Choice Policy

Given the dominance of residentially based school assignment, prior researchers have conceptualized K–12 enrollment decisions as beyond the purview of school actors. This paper questions the continued relevance of this assumption by studying the behavior of guidance counselors charged with implementing New York City’s universal high school choice policy. Drawing on structured interviews with 88 middle school counselors and administrative data on choice outcomes at these middle schools, we find that counselors generally believe lower-income students are on their own in making high school choices and need additional adult support. However, they largely refrain from giving action-guiding advice to students about which schools to attend. We elaborate street-level bureaucracy theory by showing how the majority of counselors reduce cognitive dissonance between their understanding of students’ needs and their inability to meet these needs adequately given existing resources. They do so by drawing selectively on competing policy logics of school choice, narrowly delineating their conception of their role, and relegating decisions to parents. Importantly, we also find departures from the predictions of this theory as approximately one in four counselors sought to meet the needs of individual students by enlarging their role despite the resource constraints they faced. Finally, we quantify the impact of variation in counselors’ approaches, finding that the absence of action-guiding advice is associated with students being admitted to lower-quality schools, on average.

scholarly journals Race, Geography, and School Choice Policy: A Critical Analysis of Detroit Students’ Suburban School Choices

AERA Open ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 233285842110672
Author(s):  
Jeremy Singer ◽  
Sarah Winchell Lenhoff
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
School Choice Policy ◽  
Geospatial Analyses ◽  
Choice Policy ◽  
Do So

The purpose of this study is to advance our thinking about race and racism in geospatial analyses of school choice policy. To do so, we present a critical race spatial analysis of Detroit students’ suburban school choices. To frame our study, we describe the racial and spatial dynamics of school choice, drawing in particular on the concepts of opportunity hoarding and predatory landscapes. We find that Detroit students’ suburban school choices were circumscribed by racial geography and concentrated in just a handful of schools and districts. We also find notable differences between students in different racial groups. For all Detroit exiters, their schools were significantly more segregated and lower quality than those of their suburban peers. We propose future directions for research on families’ school choices as well as school and district behavior at the intersection of race, geography, and school choice policy.

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