scholarly journals Paying for School Choice: Availability Differences among Local Education Markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Lee
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Housing Price ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Underperforming Schools ◽  
The Public ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Education Markets

On the grounds of the school zone discontinuity by parents’ educational level, housing price, and household income, empowering parents to choose children’s schools with their own hands has the potential to improve overall access to education by weakening geographical advantages, or disadvantages, and opening up invisible boundaries between communities. Though recent school choice proposals seem aligned with issues of access to education, little research has paid attention to potential access to and actual utilization of the federal government-initiated choice program in competitive markets. This paper explores whether or not the markets for the public school choice provision under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are ready to serve students at chronically underperforming schools, by representing the geographic distribution of choice availability in a segregated metropolitan area. This study finds that the public school choice provision under the NCLB builds unequal choice settings between school districts.

SmartChoice: An Online Recommender System to Support Low-Income Families in Public School Choice

AI Magazine ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 46 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Wilson ◽  
Suzanne Leland ◽  
Kenneth Godwin ◽  
Andrew Baxter ◽  
Ashley Levy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Recommender System ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
Followup Studies

Public school choice at the primary and secondary levels is a keyelement of the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).  If aschool does not meet assessment goals for two consecutive years, bylaw the district must offer students the opportunity to transfer to aschool that is meeting its goals.  Making a choice with such potentialimpact on a child's future is clearly monumental, yet astonishinglyfew parents take advantage of the opportunity.  Our research has shownthat a significant part of the problem arises from issues ininformation access and information overload, particularly for lowsocioeconomic status families.  Thus we have developed an online,content-based recommender system, called SmartChoice.  Itprovides parents with school recommendations for individual studentsbased on parents' preferences and students' needs, interests,abilities, and talents.  The first version of the online applicationwas deployed and live for focus group participants who used it for theJanuary and March/April 2008 Charlotte-Mecklenburg school choiceperiods.  This article describes the SmartChoice Program and theresults of our initial and followup studies with participants.

Accountability without Angst? Public Opinion and No Child Left Behind

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
FREDERICK HESS
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Achievement Gaps ◽  
The Public ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Using Data

In this article, Frederick Hess discusses public opinion trends related to educational issues from the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 through 2006. Using data from three separate public opinion polls, Hess analyzes the general public's and parents' opinions on several issues, including the proper use of large-scale assessments, the appropriateness of punitive action for failing schools, the place of school choice, and the responsibility for closing achievement gaps across groups. Among many important findings, the author determines that NCLB has had little effect on the public's general opinion of public schools; that there is little public support for the sanctioning of struggling schools; and that while the public feels that schools should not be blamed for existing achievement gaps, schools should be responsible for closing them. He concludes with a discussion of implications for policymakers and practitioners.

Are Students Left Behind? The Distributional Effects of the No Child Left Behind Act

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Krieg
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Public School ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Pass Rate ◽  
High Ability ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Distributional Effects ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
High Ability Students

The No Child Left Behind Act imposes sanctions on schools if the fraction of students demonstrating proficiency on a high-stakes test falls below a statewide pass rate. While the motivation behind this system is improved public school performance, it also provides incentives for schools to focus educational resources on the marginal student rather than those on the tails of the ability distribution. Using statewide, student-level panel data, students on the tails of the ability distribution, especially high-ability students, are demonstrated to score below expectations if their school is in danger from No Child Left Behind sanctions.

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