scholarly journals The Aggregate Effect of School Choice: Evidence from a Two-Stage Experiment in India *

2015 ◽  
Vol 130 (3) ◽  
pp. 1011-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Muralidharan ◽  
Venkatesh Sundararaman

Abstract We present experimental evidence on the impact of a school choice program in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh that provided students with a voucher to finance attending a private school of their choice. The study design featured a unique two-stage lottery-based allocation of vouchers that created both student-level and market-level experiments, which allows us to study the individual and the aggregate effects of school choice (including spillovers). After two and four years of the program, we find no difference between test scores of lottery winners and losers on Telugu (native language), math, English, and science/social studies, suggesting that the large cross-sectional differences in test scores across public and private schools mostly reflect omitted variables. However, private schools also teach Hindi, which is not taught by the public schools, and lottery winners have much higher test scores in Hindi. Furthermore, the mean cost per student in the private schools in our sample was less than a third of the cost in public schools. Thus, private schools in this setting deliver slightly better test score gains than their public counterparts (better on Hindi and same in other subjects), and do so at a substantially lower cost per student. Finally, we find no evidence of spillovers on public school students who do not apply for the voucher, or on private school students, suggesting that the positive effects on voucher winners did not come at the expense of other students.

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huriya Jabbar ◽  
Dongmei Li

School choice policies, such as charter schools and vouchers, are in part designed to induce competition between schools. While several studies have examined the impact of private school competition on public schools, few studies have explored school leaders’ perceptions of private school competitors. This study examines the extent to which public school leaders in New Orleans, which already has a robust public school choice system, perceived competition with private schools, and the characteristics that predicted competition between the two types of schools. We find that while over half of principals reported competing with private schools for students, there was a wide range of the number and percentage of possible competitors reported. Furthermore, the results suggest that school voucher policies did not play a major role in influencing why schools competed with private schools. In addition, public school leaders who did lose students to private schools through the voucher program reported that they often recouped those losses, when parents returned to public schools unsatisfied or facing additional unexpected costs. 


Author(s):  
Eric A Hanushek ◽  
Sinan Sarpça ◽  
Kuzey Yilmaz

Abstract Private schools free households from a strict link between residential location decisions and the tax-school quality bundles they consume. In order to study the impact of private schools on educational outcomes, we develop a general equilibrium model that simultaneously incorporates locational choice built on access and locational choice built on tax-school quality attributes of jurisdictions. We conclude that private school choice enhances the welfare of all households—both those attending private schools and those attending public schools—while also working to reduce the amount of housing and school segregation in equilibrium. Investigation of alternative school policies indicates that greater choice, including using targeted school vouchers, can improve welfare and achievement. Finally, we demonstrate how the fiscal burden arising from some households paying less taxes than they consume in public services varies significantly with the structure of school choice options.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Silva Ferreira ◽  
Dyene Aparecida Silva ◽  
Cristiana Araújo Gontijo ◽  
Ana Elisa Madalena Rinaldi

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare and analyze the consumption of minimally processed and ultra-processed foods among students from public and private schools. Methods: Study conducted in Uberlândia, MG, with fifth-grade students from three private and six public schools, selected by stratified cluster sampling. We collected data on food consumption using the 24-hour recall. Foods were classified into four groups (G) according to extent and purpose of processing: fresh/minimally processed foods (G1) culinary ingredients (G2), processed foods (G3), and ultra-processed foods (G4). Total energy intake (kcal) of each group, amount of sugar (g), sodium (mg), and fiber (g) were quantified and compared according to administrative affiliation (private or public). Results: Percentage of total energy intake was: G1 - 52%; G2 - 12%; G3 - 5%; e G4 - 31%. Energy intake from G1 (53 vs. 47%), G2 (12 vs. 9%), and G3 (6.0 vs. 0.1%), and amount of sodium (3,293 vs. 2,724 mg) and fiber (23 vs. 18 g) were higher among students from public schools. Energy intake from G4 (36 vs. 28%) and amount of sugar (20 vs. 14%) were higher among students from private schools. The consumption of foods from G1 in the school environment was higher among students from public schools (40 vs. 9%). Conclusions: Foods from G1 represent the highest percentage of total energy intake, while those from G4 constitute a third of calories consumed. Processed juice, sandwich cookie, processed cake, and breakfast cereals are more frequent among private school students; snacks and juice powder are more common for students from public schools.


Author(s):  
Damon Clark

Abstract In this paper I consider the impact of attending a selective high school in the UK. Students are assigned to these schools on the basis of a test taken in primary school and, using data on these assignment test scores for a particular district, I exploit this rule to estimate the causal effects of selective schools on test scores, high school course taking and university enrollment. Despite the huge peer advantage enjoyed by selective school students, I show that four years of selective school attendance generates at best small effects on test scores. Selective schools do however have positive effects on course-taking and, more suggestively, university enrollment, evidence suggesting they may have important longer run impacts.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Bahramnejad ◽  
Abedin Iranpour ◽  
Nouzar Nakhaee

Abstract Background Recent evidence from Western countries suggests that private school students are more prone to drug use. Such an evidence is lacking in Muslim countries. The aim of this study was to examine whether the risk of drug use is higher in private schools than public schools.Methods This cross sectional study was conducted on 650 tenth grade students of Kerman city, the center of largest province of Iran using cluster sampling. Well-validated questionnaires regarding current, lifetime substance use, and perceived use by classmates were utilized. Substances included in the questionnaire were waterpipe, cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, opium, methamphetamine, and Naas. Drug Use Tendency Scale was used to measure the attitudes of students towards drug use.Results The response rate was 93.7%. More than 82% of sample were public school students (n = 504). Current use of cigarette and marijuana was higher in private schools (12.2% and 3.0%, respectively) than public schools (4.4% and 0.5%, respectively) (P < 0.05). Perceived prevalence of cigarette smoking by classmates was higher among private school students.Conclusion Despite the popular belief that private schools are better than public schools regarding the risk of substance use, students who attend private schools may be at a higher risk of turning to some drugs comparing to public schools in Iran.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Bahramnejad ◽  
Abedin Iranpour ◽  
Nouzar Nakhaee

Abstract Background : Recent evidence from Western countries suggests that private school students are more prone to drug use. Such an evidence is lacking in Muslim countries. The aim of this study was to examine whether the risk of drug use is higher in private schools than public schools. Methods : This cross sectional study was conducted on 650 tenth grade students of Kerman city, the center of largest province of Iran using cluster sampling. Well-validated questionnaires regarding current, lifetime substance use, and perceived use by classmates were utilized. Substances included in the questionnaire were waterpipe, cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, opium, methamphetamine, and Naas. Drug Use Tendency Scale was used to measure the attitudes of students towards drug use. Results : The response rate was 93.7%. More than 82% of sample were public school students (n=504). Current use of cigarette and marijuana was higher in private schools (12.2% and 3.0%, respectively) than public schools (4.4% and 0.5%, respectively) (P<0.05). Perceived prevalence of cigarette smoking by classmates was higher among private school students. Conclusion : Despite the popular belief that private schools are better than public schools regarding the risk of substance use, students who attend private schools may be at a higher risk of turning to some drugs comparing to public schools in Iran.


Author(s):  
Ali Bahramnejad ◽  
Abedin Iranpour ◽  
Nouzar Nakhaee

Abstract Background Recent evidence from Western countries suggests that private school students are more prone to drug use. Such an evidence is lacking in Muslim countries. The aim of this study was to examine whether the risk of drug use is higher in private schools than public schools. Methods This cross sectional study was conducted on 650 tenth grade students of Kerman city, the center of largest province of Iran using cluster sampling. Well-validated questionnaires regarding current, lifetime substance use, and perceived use by classmates were utilized. Substances included in the questionnaire were waterpipe, cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, opium, methamphetamine, and Naas. Drug Use Tendency Scale was used to measure the attitudes of students towards drug use. Results The response rate was 93.7%. More than 82% of sample were public school students (n = 504). Current use of cigarette and marijuana was higher in private schools (12.2 and 3.0%, respectively) than public schools (4.4 and 0.5%, respectively) (P < 0.05). Perceived prevalence of cigarette smoking by classmates was higher among private school students. Conclusion Despite the popular belief that private schools are better than public schools regarding the risk of substance use, students who attend private schools may be at a higher risk of turning to some drugs comparing to public schools in Iran.


2004 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Anderson

Adam Swift objects to private schools on the grounds of equal opportunity and efficiency, and to both private and selective public schools on the grounds of solidarity and improving the academic achievement of less advantaged students. I argue that private schools are not inefficient, and that a meritocratic ideal of equality of opportunity in K-12 contexts is either inapplicable or undesirable. Swift’s objection that private school students unfairly ‘jump the queue’ is based on envy. Enforcing a queue by blocking extra parental investment in their children’s education would be inefficient and unjustly burden people who value education highly. Nor do the educational interests of the less advantaged always justify restrictions on selective schools. However, Swift’s solidarity objection against selective public schools is sound. I develop this objection in the context of ideals of democracy and equal citizenship.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Bahramnejad ◽  
Abedin Iranpour ◽  
Nouzar Nakhaee

Abstract Background Recent evidence from Western countries suggests that private school students are more prone to drug use. Such an evidence is lacking in Muslim countries. The aim of this study was to examine whether the risk of drug use is higher in private schools than public schools. Methods This cross sectional study was conducted on 630 randomly selected 10th grade students of Kerman city, the center of largest province of Iran. Well-validated questionnaires regarding current, lifetime substance use, and perceived use by classmates were utilized. Substances included in the questionnaire were waterpipe, cigarette, alcohol, marijuana, opium, methamphetamine, and Naas. Drug Abuse Tendency Scale was used to measure the attitudes of students towards drug use. Results More than 82% of sample were public school students (n = 504). Ever use of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana was higher in private schools (27.6%, 39.0%, and 5.7%, respectively) than public schools (15.3%, 25.8%, 2.2%, respectively) (P < 0.05). The drug abuse tendency score was nearly higher in public school students (10.4 ± 9.4) than private schools (12.1 ± 9.9) (P = 0.090). Perceived prevalence of cigarette and marijuana use by classmates was higher among private school students. Conclusion Despite the popular belief that private schools are better than public schools regarding the risk of substance use, students who attend private schools are at a higher risk of turning to some drugs comparing to public schools in Iran.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
Marjan Šimenc ◽  
Mojca Štraus

The article analyses the (third) Coleman Report on private and public schools. The report scrutinises the relationship between private and public schools and shows that private school students show better academic achievement. Coleman concluded that these findings provided a strong argument in favour of public financial support for private schools. However,he identified a number of school characteristics that he believed to be related to student achievement. According to his analysis, these characteristics were not limited to privateschools; public schools exhibiting the same characteristics also had good results. Coleman interpreted the available data in favour of financial aid to private schools, although this was not the only possible interpretation. An alternative conclusion would have been to encourage these characteristics in public schools. Why did Coleman disregard this possibility? Why did he deviate from his usual scientific rigour? The present article suggests that there appear to be two reasons for the narrow interpretation of the relationship between public and private schools in Coleman’s third report. The first lies in Coleman’s notion of contemporary society as a constructed system in which every individual actor holds a place in the structure and requires incentives in order to act to the benefit of society. In the case of education, the goal of the institution is to ensure the high cognitive achievement of students, and the incentive is related to choice and competition. The second reason is related to Coleman’s vision of sociology as a discipline aiding the construction of an effective society.


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