A Review of Computer-Assisted Instruction for Students With Visual Impairment

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is a critical tool for accessing information and instruction among students with visual impairment (VI). This systematic review examined eight CAI intervention studies implemented with 92 school-age children with VI. The interventions were implemented with a diverse group of students across a variety of school types (e.g., neighborhood schools, schools for the blind), grade levels, and content areas (e.g., math, reading). Although some findings were promising, the effects of CAI were inconsistent across studies. This review highlights the need for (a) additional high-quality intervention evaluations, (b) more information on the social validity of CAI interventions, and (c) evaluations of CAI among students with a wider range of needs. Implications for practice and research aimed at enhancing the use of CAI are addressed.

Charter schools and equity: The power of accountability

Many proponents of charter schools suggest that, by providing an option outside traditional public schools, they are helping disadvantaged students who might otherwise be confined to low-quality neighborhood schools. But market-based accountability structures are insufficient to ensure that charter schools are actually enrolling students (i.e., students from economically distressed families, students with disabilities, English learners, and students of color) and, once they are enrolled, providing them sufficient support. Helen Ladd and Edward Fiske use the Massachusetts system of authorization, data collection, and site visits to illustrate a high quality public accountability system for charter schools that is focused on promoting equity.

Location, Location, Location? School District, Length of Residence and Attitudes Toward Diversity and Neighborhood Schools in the Upper South

Attitudes toward diversity and neighborhood schools matter because they underlie many families’ decisions for residential location, with consequences for both school systems and students. Case studies of desegregation highlight locational dynamics that influence these outcomes, but differences in theory and methods limit rigorous comparisons among residents across such areas. This study focuses on two under-researched correlates of these preferences toward school assignment models: school district location and length of residence in that district. We evaluate whether school district location and length of residence decrease support for diverse schools and increase support for neighborhood schools, net of numerous controls. We use an innovative new dataset that features opinion polling of respondents’ views of public school assignments in Raleigh, NC; Charlotte, NC; Louisville, KY; Rock Hill, SC; and Nashville, TN (5302 cases). We find that compared to having lived in a school district 7 years or less, living in that district over 15 years decreases support for diversity. Furthermore, living all one’s life in a district increases support for neighborhood schools. We also find that Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Rock Hill, and Nashville districts are less supportive of neighborhood schools than Raleigh, but that there are also interactive effects between length of residence and school district location. These results shed light on district differences in social forces leading to school resegregation.

Who Favors Magnets and Who Favors Charters? Political Ideology, Social Purpose Politics, and School Choice in the Upper South

School choice is an increasingly important feature of the US educational landscape. Numerous studies examine whether a particular form of school choice promotes student achievement or whether a type of school choice discourages or encourages diversity by race, ethnicity, and ability. Studies also examine attitudes toward school choice, but these studies are typically limited to the views of parents, teachers, and administrators rather than public attitudes. We contribute to this literature by studying public opinion about magnet and charter schools in five southern school districts. Using a new and unique dataset, we examine if social background characteristics, political ideology, and attitudes toward the role of public schooling, neighborhood schools, and school diversity influence citizen opinion regarding magnets and charters. We find that more educated, higher income, and older individuals do not support charters, while conservatives and Republicans do. Whites are less likely to favor magnets than other races, while the more educated are more likely to favor them. Those who believe public schools should operate for the common good support magnets, as do those who favor diverse schools. However, those who favor neighborhood schools support both charters and magnets. We interpret our findings within the context of case studies of the respective locations and suggest that public opinion studies motivate public policies regarding educational choice.

New Localism in the Neoliberal Era: Local District Response to Voluntary Open-School Markets in Ohio

Local education governance has allowed neighborhood schools to offer community-oriented curricula and activities, and public schools have been operated to serve only residents’ children within the defined areas. The rise of neoliberalism may, however, undermine political foundations of the traditional political systems. This article explores how self-governed local education authorities function and evolve under neoliberalism by revisiting core values in localism and neoliberalism. By looking into the voluntary open-enrollment policy in Ohio, this study finds that the local governments surrounded by dissimilar neighborhoods are more likely to depend on the mechanism of localism to protect local authorities and locational privileges. This research argues that neoliberal policies safeguard community interests by deeply engaging with interchanging resources across their borders in regional market environments.

Is Youth Smoking Related to the Density and Proximity of Outdoor Tobacco Advertising Near Schools? Evidence from Indonesia

Background: Smoking was among the top contributors to deaths and disability as the prevalence among male adults remains high, and that among male youth increases in Indonesia. While local studies have shown high visibility of outdoor tobacco advertising around schools, the country still has no outdoor tobacco advertising ban. Objective: To examine the association between youth smoking behavior and measures of outdoor tobacco advertising density and proximity in Indonesia. Methods: We combined two primary data sources, including outdoor tobacco advertising and smoking behavior among male youth in Semarang city. We randomly selected and interviewed 400 male students at 20 high schools in the city. In addition, we interviewed 492 male adults who lived near the schools for comparison. Results: We found significant associations between smoking use among youth (but not among adults) and measures of outdoor tobacco advertising density and proximity in Semarang city. Youth at schools with medium and high density of outdoor tobacco advertising were up to 2.16 times more likely to smoke, compared to those with low density. Similarly, youth at senior high schools with proximity to outdoor tobacco advertising were 2.8 times more likely to smoke. Also, young people at poorer-neighborhood schools with a higher density of and proximity to outdoor tobacco advertising were up to 5.16 times more likely to smoke. Conclusions: There were significant associations between smoking use among male youth (but not among male adults) and measures of outdoor tobacco advertising density and proximity in Indonesia. This highlights the need to introduce an outdoor tobacco advertising ban effectively, at least near schools.

Bright Flight: Desegregating Boston’s Elite Public Schools, 1960-2000

This article uses Boston as a case study to examine how elite, public schools that admitted students on the basis of “merit” perpetuated segregation and inequity in urban school systems. Merit justified the unequal allocation of educational opportunities, and the group that benefited most from merit-based admissions were families who could afford to send their children to private primary schools before “testing into” public secondary schools. I argue that merit-based admissions facilitated bright flight: the loss of high-achieving students from neighborhood schools. This study complicates and offers a new perspective on Boston school desegregation and has timely implications for our current historical moment.

Optimizing for Distributional Goals in School Choice Problems

I investigate three goals of school choice: welfare, encouraging neighborhood schools, and diversity. I use optimization problems to find the best stable and incentive compatible match for any combination of these objectives. These problems assume there is a continuum of students and school seats, which allows me to describe the incentive compatibility conditions in a tractable form. I prove that the set of stable matchings is generically continuous in the distribution of students and the school capacities, which implies that the characterization of the possible stable matches in the continuum model approximates the set of stable matches in a matching market with a large, but finite, number of students. I then apply my framework to data from Boston Public Schools. If the mechanism conditions on demographics, the improvement (relative to the status quo) in student welfare is equivalent to moving 291 students (out of 3,479) to schools one rank higher in their preference lists. In contrast, if the mechanism does not condition on demographics, the welfare improvement is equivalent to moving only 25.1 students to schools one rank higher. Improvements in the distributional goals can be made (e.g., increasing enrollment in neighborhood schools by 50%) without reducing welfare or diversity. This paper was accepted by Gabriel Weintraub, revenue management and market analytics.

Win or Lose: Residential Sorting After a School Choice Lottery

We examine residential relocation and opting out of the public school system in response to school choice lottery outcomes. We show that rising kindergartners and sixth graders who lose a school choice lottery are 6 percentage points more likely to exit the district or change neighborhood schools (20% to 30% increase) and make up 0.14 to 0.35 standard deviations in average school test scores between lottery assignment and attendance the following year. Using hedonic-based estimates of land prices, we estimate that lottery losers pay a 9% to 11% housing price premium for access to a school with a 1 standard deviation higher mean test score.

Crumbling Walls, Peeling Paint, and High Achievement Orientation: Alternative Facts or Truth?

This article examines historical context shaping the achievement gap while considering school choice. Students in low performing districts are often labeled as unmotivated or not achievement oriented. These assertions are upheld by citing attendance rates, graduation rates, and achievement data. This research article demonstrates that a sample of students in a low performing district has similarly aligned attitudes and self-reported behaviors related to achievement and success as a neighboring affluent district. Differences appear when students reflect upon safety and resources. This article demonstrates that public education works when the right resources are in place; so why push minorities out of their neighborhood schools toward charters and magnets rather than bolster and make equitable the existing system?