National Research and Development Center on School Choice

Topic: Innovation in Education Reform

Purpose: The National Center on School Choice conducts scientific, comprehensive studies on school choice to inform policy and practice. The Center is examining both individual and systemic aspects of school choice through coordinated multidisciplinary research initiatives conducted by an expert team of scholars — sociologists, economists, psychologists, political scientists, curriculum experts, psychometricians, statisticians — from some of the nation's top research organizations. The methodology includes experimental and quasi-experimental design studies, as well as studies focusing on institutions and governance.

Established through a five-year, $13.3 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education, the NCSC is located at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee.

Projects

Effects of Choice on Student Achievement
The main objectives of this study are to demonstrate how charter schools affect the achievement of students who attend them, and how the loss of students to charter schools affects the student composition of regular public schools. Researchers are currently conducting analyses employing an experimental research design in the evaluation of charter schools in New York City, Illinois, and Florida.

Impact of Choice, Competition, and Governance
This project examines whether school choice and accountability have increased student performance. Researchers will use student-level data (as opposed to school-level) from the Milwaukee Public School System, which should allow researchers to address factors such as the mobility of students among schools, the changing demography from one grade cohort to the next, and differential testing participation rates each year.

Effects of Charter Schools at the Individual and Systemic Levels
This study examines the way charter schools begin (conversion versus start-up) and how they perform. Researchers are comparing the current enrollment, faculty, and achievement characteristics of conversion schools in California to those characteristics prior to conversion, and to the characteristics of start-up charters. In a different study of charter schools in ten states, researchers are examining various aspects of performance, including over time (e.g., is there a depressing effect on test scores during the first two years of operation) and oversight (e.g., schools run by education management organizations). Additionally, economic, political, and organizational rationales for the founding of charter schools are examined.

Opening the Black Box in Choice and Regular Public Schools
Researchers aim to discover what organizational, curricular and instructional conditions promote student achievement and whether/how these conditions differ between schools of choice—charter schools, magnet schools, private religious and nonreligious schools—and matched regular public schools. Researchers are currently collecting and analyzing data to address: (1) how schools of choice differ from traditional public schools in terms of autonomy, innovation, and accountability; and (2) how these core components of choice schools are related to instructional conditions that promote more positive educational outcomes, such as increased student achievement in reading, Language Arts, and mathematics. The project will estimate growth in student achievement using a three-level hierarchical linear models (with students nested within classrooms nested within schools).

Publications:

Journal Articles:

Berry, C., and Howell, W. (2007). Accountability and Local Elections: Rethinking Retrospective Voting. Journal of Politics, 69(3): 844–858.

Howell, W., and West, M. (2008). Is the Price Right? Probing Americans' Understanding of Education Spending. Education Next, 8(3): 36–41.

Howell, W., West, M., and Peterson, P. (2007). What Americans Think About Their Schools. Education Next 7(4):12–26.

Howell, W., West, M., and Peterson, P. (2008). What Americans Think About Their Schools, Results From the Second Annual Education Next-PEPG Survey. Education Next, 8(4): 12–27.

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2008). Charter Achievement in New York City. Education Next 8(3).

Loveless, T., Kelly, A., and Henriques, A. (in press). What Happens When Regular Public Schools Convert to Charter Schools? Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Peterson, P.E. (2007). The Case for Curriculum-Based, External Examinations Which Have Significant Consequences for Students. Peabody Journal of Education 82(4): 645–666.

Peterson, P.E., Howell, W., and West, M. (2008). The 2008 Education Next — PEPG Survey of Public Opinion. Education Next 8(1).

Peterson, P.E., Howell, W., and West, M. (2007). What Americans Think About Their Schools: The 2007 Education Next — PEPG Survey. Education Next 7(4): 12–26.

Peterson, P.E., and Llaudet, E. (2007). Heterogeneity in School Sector Effects on Elementary Student Performance. Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance.

Peterson, P.E. (forthcoming). School Vouchers in the United States: Explaining the Variations in Benefits of Private Schooling. Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft, Journal of Educational Science.

Peterson, P.E. (2008). School Vouchers in the United States: Productivity in the Public and Private Sectors, Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft, Journal of Educational Science, 11(2): 253–267.

Peterson, P.E., and Llaudet, E. (2007). The NCES Private-Public School Study: Findings Are Other than They Seem. Education Next, 7(1): 75–79.

Springer, M. 2008. Accountability Incentives: Do Schools Practice Educational Triage? Education Next 8(1).

Springer, M. 2007. The Influence of an NCLB Accountability Plan on the Distribution of Student Test Score Gains. Economics of Education Review.

Book Chapters:

Ballou, D., Teasley, B., and Zeidner, T. (2008). Charter School Outcomes in Idaho. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Berends, M., Watral, C., Teasley, B., and Nicotera, A. (2008). Charter School Effects on Achievement: Where We Are and Where We're Going. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Goldring, E., and Cravens, X. (2008). Teachers' Academic Focus on Learning in Charter and Non-Charter Schools. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2008). Methods of Assessing the Achievement of Students in Charter Schools. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2006). A Tapestry of Choice Programs. In P.E. Peterson, Reforming Education in Florida. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.

Loveless, T., and Field, K. (in press). Perspectives on Charter Schools. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, D. Ballou and H. Walberg (Eds.), Handbook of Research on School Choice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Peterson, P.E. (in press). Perspectives on School Vouchers. In M.Berends, M.G. Springer, D. Ballou and H. Walberg (Eds.), Handbook of Research on School Choice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Peterson, P.E. (2007). The A+ Plan. In Paul E. Peterson (Ed.), Reforming Education in Florida: Recommendations From the Koret Task Force. Hoover Institution Press.

Peterson, P.E. (2007). School Choice in Milwaukee Fifteen Years Later. In Paul Hill (Ed.), School Choice: The Supply Side. Hoover Institution Press.

Peterson, P.E., Torinus, N., and Smith, B. (2006). School Choice in Milwaukee: Fifteen Years Later. In P.T. Hill (Ed.), Charter Schools Against All Odds. Stanford, CA: Education Next Books.

Springer, M.G., Pepper, M., Gardner, C.D., and Bower, C.B. (2009). Supplemental Educational Services Under No Child Left Behind. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, D. Ballou and H. Walberg (Eds.), Handbook of Research on School Choice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wong, K., and Klopott, S. (2009). Politics and Governance in Charter Schools. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, D. Ballou and H. Walberg (Eds.), Handbook of Research on School Choice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wong, K., and Shen, F.X. (2008). Charter Law and Charter Operations: Re-Examining the Charter School Marketplace. In M. Berends, M.G. Springer, and H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Charter School Outcomes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Wong, K., and Wishnick, D. (2007). Expanding the Possibilities: The Diverse-Provider Model in Urban Districts. In R. Rothman (Ed.), City Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Technical Reports:

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2007a). Charter Schools in New York City: Who Enrolls and How They Affect Their Students' Achievement. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2007b). New York City's Charter Schools: Overall Report (Reporting on Results through the 2005–06 School Year). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

Hoxby, C.M., and Murarka, S. (2007b-Rr). A Series of Reports on Individual Charter Schools in New York City (Reporting on Results through the 2005–06 School Year). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

West, M., and Woessmann, L. 2008. Every Catholic Child in a Catholic School: Historical Resistance to State Schooling, Contemporary Private Competition, and Student Achievement Across Countries. Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance, PEPG08–05.

Books:

Howell, W., and Peterson, P. (2006). Education Gap: Vouchers and Urban Schools, Revised Edition. Brookings.

Peterson, P.E., and Llaudet, E. (2006). On the Public-Private School Achievement Debate.

Walberg, H.J. (2007). School Choice: The Findings. Washington, DC: Cato Institute.

Wong, K., Shen, F.X., Anagnostopoulos, D., and Rutledge, S. (2007). The Education Mayor: Improving America's Schools. Georgetown University Press.

Center Website: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice/.

Key Personnel: Marisa Cannata, Dale Ballou, Timothy C. Caboni, John Cronin, Ellen B. Goldring, Ruth Green, James W. Guthrie, William G. Howell, Caroline M. Hoxby, Michael Kamil, Tom Loveless, Paul Peterson, Claire Smrekar, Matthew G. Springer, Herbert J. Walberg, Kenneth K. Wong

IES Program Contact: Dr. Katina Stapleton
Email: Katina.Stapleton@ed.gov
Telephone: (202) 219-2154