When Public School “Choice” Is Not Academic: Findings From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988

1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Sosniak ◽  
Corinna A. Ethington
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
National Education ◽  
National Education Longitudinal Study ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Education Longitudinal Study ◽  
Principles Of Practice

Public schools of choice are fast becoming part of national educational debate and practice. This article presents an empirical test of the claim that choice encourages something other than standardized education. We draw our data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Our analyses center on questions at the heart of curriculum studies: What knowledge is of most worth and what principles of practice govern work with curricular content? Using multiple measures of curriculum content and of the procedures governing work with that content, we find little support for the argument that public school choice, as currently implemented, is an inventive mechanism for altering the academic lives of students and teachers.

Public School Choice: Some Evidence From the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988

1996 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Schneider ◽  
Kathryn S. Schiller ◽  
James S. Coleman
Keyword(s):  
High School Students ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
School Students ◽  
Schools Of Choice ◽  
National Education ◽  
National Education Longitudinal Study ◽  
Education Longitudinal Study

Programs to provide parents with opportunities to choose among public schools have increased to the point that more American high school students are enrolled in public “schools of choice” than private schools. Using indicators of students’ “exercise of choice “ and enrollment in a public school of choice from The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this article explores certain groups’ propensities to take advantage of opportunities to choose in the public sector. Controlling on the availability of opportunities for choice in their schools, African Americans and Hispanics show a greater propensity to take advantage of those opportunities than Whites and Asian Americans. Students whose parents have lower levels of education are also more likely than those with more education to take advantage of opportunities to choose.

Notes: Are They Schools of Choice? A Response to Sosniak and Ethington

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-104
Author(s):  
Kathryn S. Schiller ◽  
Stephen Plank ◽  
Barbara Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Schools Of Choice ◽  
National Education ◽  
National Education Longitudinal Study ◽  
Choice Schools ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
School Sample ◽  
Academic Lives

Sosniak and Ethington (1992) conclude that their analysis of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) provides “little support for the argument that public school choice, as currently implemented, is an inventive mechanism for altering the academic lives of students and teachers.” Three issues that bring their conclusion into question are addressed: (a) the method used to classify public schools of choice, (b) problems that arise because of the likelihood of a significant number of “schools within a school” in NELS:88 base-year school sample, and (c) the matching methodology employed in examining differences between “choice” and “non-choice” schools.

A Look Back: Taking stock of public school choice in Kappan

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Teresa Preston
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Alternative Schools ◽  
Private School ◽  
Magnet Schools ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Look Back

In this monthly column, Kappan managing editor Teresa Preston explores how the magazine has covered the questions and controversies about school choice. Although many authors across the decades objected to the use of vouchers to pay private school tuition, those same authors lent support to the idea of choice among public schools. Advocates of public school choice have endorsed various models for providing choices, from alternative schools, to magnet schools, to charter schools.

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