Early Adopters: Private School Leaders Respond to the Introduction of Targeted School Vouchers

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-151
Author(s):  
Anna J. Egalite ◽  
Lance Fusarelli ◽  
Lacey Seaton ◽  
D. T. Stallings
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Private School ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Vouchers ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
The North ◽  
Scholarship Program ◽  
Participation Decisions

The North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program awarded private school vouchers to over 7,000 low-income students in 2017-18, yet only 61% of the state’s private schools registered to participate in the Opportunity Scholarship Program and just over half of schools (54%) actually enrolled voucher recipients. Given that the program is anticipated to grow by $10 million per year for 10 years, private school supply will be an important consideration as student participation rises. Using rich focus group and survey data collected from private school leaders between 2014 and 2017, this analysis probes the participation decisions of private school leaders.

scholarly journals Qualitative perspectives of the North Carolina healthy food small retailer program among customers in participating stores located in food deserts

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Haynes-Maslow ◽  
Stephanie B. Jilcott Pitts ◽  
Kathryn A. Boys ◽  
Jared T. McGuirt ◽  
Sheila Fleischhacker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Food Access ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Food Deserts ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
The State ◽  
The North

Abstract Background The North Carolina Healthy Food Small Retailer Program (NC HFSRP) was established through a policy passed by the state legislature to provide funding for small food retailers located in food deserts with the goal of increasing access to and sales of healthy foods and beverages among local residents. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine perceptions of the NC HFSRP among store customers. Methods Qualitative interviews were conducted with 29 customers from five NC HFSRP stores in food deserts across eastern NC. Interview questions were related to shoppers’ food and beverage purchases at NC HFSRP stores, whether they had noticed any in-store efforts to promote healthier foods and beverages, their suggestions for promoting healthier foods and beverages, their familiarity with and support of the NC HFSRP, and how their shopping and consumption habits had changed since implementation of the NC HFSRP. A codebook was developed based on deductive (from the interview guide questions) and inductive (emerged from the data) codes and operational definitions. Verbatim transcripts were double-coded and a thematic analysis was conducted based on code frequency, and depth of participant responses for each code. Results Although very few participants were aware of the NC HFSRP legislation, they recognized changes within the store. Customers noted that the provision of healthier foods and beverages in the store had encouraged them to make healthier purchase and consumption choices. When a description of the NC HFSRP was provided to them, all participants were supportive of the state-funded program. Participants discussed program benefits including improving food access in low-income and/or rural areas and making healthy choices easier for youth and for those most at risk of diet-related chronic diseases. Conclusions Findings can inform future healthy corner store initiatives in terms of framing a rationale for funding or policies by focusing on increased food access among vulnerable populations.

Competitive Impacts of Means-Tested Vouchers on Public School Performance: Evidence from Louisiana

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna J. Egalite ◽  
Jonathan N. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Private School ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
First Year ◽  
Competitive Effects ◽  
Scholarship Program ◽  
Sudden Injection

Given the significant growth rate and geographic expansion of private school choice programs over the past two decades, it is important to examine how traditional public schools respond to the sudden injection of competition for students and resources. Although prior studies of this nature have been limited to Florida and Milwaukee, using multiple analytic strategies this paper examines the competitive impacts of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP) to determine its achievement impacts on students in affected public schools. Serving 4,954 students in its first year of statewide expansion, this targeted school voucher program provides public funds for low-income students in low-performing public schools to enroll in participating private schools across the state of Louisiana. Using (1) a school fixed effects approach and (2) a regression discontinuity framework to examine the achievement impacts of the LSP on students in affected public schools, this competitive effects analysis reveals neutral to positive impacts that are small in magnitude. Policy implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Mobility, Targeting, and Private-School Vouchers

2000 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J Nechyba
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
School District ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Residential Mobility ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Private School ◽  
School Vouchers ◽  
School Voucher ◽  
The Impact

This paper uses general-equilibrium simulations to explore the role of residential mobility in shaping the impact of different private-school voucher policies. The simulations are derived from a three-district model of low-, middle-, and high-income school districts (calibrated to New York data) with housing stocks that vary within and across districts. In this model, it is demonstrated that school-district targeted vouchers are similar in their impact to nontargeted vouchers but vastly different from vouchers targeted to low-income households. Furthermore, strong migration effects are shown to significantly improve the likely equity consequences of voucher programs. (JEL I22, I28, H73)

scholarly journals Assessment of Using Heat Pumps for Heating in Mobile Homes: A Case Study from North Carolina

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-142
Author(s):  
Hussein Abaza
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Thermal Comfort ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Heating System ◽  
Heat Pumps ◽  
Mobile Homes ◽  
Indoor Thermal Comfort ◽  
The North ◽  
Low Income Families

This paper presents the results of “Upgrade and Save”, a program to upgrade the standard electric furnaces and air-conditioning units in Mobile Homes for energy-efficient heat pumps. This program is implemented in North Carolina, USA and pays about $700 through a rebate provided by the North Carolina State Energy Office to the Mobile Homes' owners. The goal of this project is to subsidize low-income families by lowering their heating cost in the winter as well as improving their homes' indoor thermal comfort. More than 300 mobile homes have participated in this program. Field measurements, meter readings of the actual electrical consumption, and annual building energy simulation were used to measure the dollar saving and the indoor thermal comfort improvement in the mobile homes after the heating system upgrade. This research proved that the dollar saving of using the heat pump for heating in mobile homes ranges from $51 to $128 annually.

scholarly journals The long-term effect of competition on public school achievement: Evidence from the Indiana choice scholarship program

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Yusuf Canbolat
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Private School ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
School Achievement ◽  
School Vouchers ◽  
Competitive Effect ◽  
Scholarship Program

Despite a vast literature on school vouchers, less is known about their long-term competitive effects on public schools. The current paper examines the competitive effect of the Indiana Choice Scholarship Program, the largest single voucher program in the US, on math and ELA proficiency rates in public schools in the last eight years. Exploiting school vouchers' market share as the primary measure of competition, I use two-way fixed effects regression and event study framework to examine the competitive effect. Results indicate that, although competition has a positive effect in the earlier years, it is detrimental in the long term, suggesting that the program created a “voucher shock” that led to an improvement in the short term. However, in the long term, the proficiency rates in public schools that faced higher competition fell and never increased again. The trend of voucher recipients who have prior public-school attendance revealed that the worsening proficiency rates in the public schools that face higher competition were driven by the departure of relatively high achieving students, suggesting that school vouchers inspire sorting. The results are robust to alternative specifications that use the variation in the interaction between the market share of vouchers and geospatial measures of private school density. 

scholarly journals MULTIFACETED AID FOR LOW-INCOME STUDENTS AND COLLEGE OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM NORTH CAROLINA

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 278-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles T. Clotfelter ◽  
Steven W. Hemelt ◽  
Helen F. Ladd
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Income Students ◽  
College Outcomes

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Effects of North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program on Student Achievement

AERA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 233285842091234
Author(s):  
Anna J. Egalite ◽  
D. T. Stallings ◽  
Stephen R. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Private School ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
12Th Grade ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Scholarship Program

The North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program is a private school voucher program that provides state-funded vouchers worth up to $4,200 to eligible students entering kindergarten through 12th grade. Because the public and private school sectors administer different assessments, we recruited approximately 700 students to take a common, nationally normed, standardized test. Matching on baseline achievement and rich demographic data, we use a quasi-experimental inverse propensity weighting approach to maximize comparability between the public and private school student samples. Our preferred specification examines first-year effects for new Opportunity Scholarship students, revealing positive estimates of .36 SD in math and .44 SD in language; there is no effect on reading scores. Results for renewal students are statistically significant in language scores only. In further analyses, we estimate separate effects for private schools that regularly administer another version of the assessment used in this study, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. We conclude by discussing policy implications.

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