An Must Read Article on School Choice!
One of California's best resources for education policy is the Pacific Research Institute (http://education.pacificresearch.org/). One of its Senior Fellows, Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., has published an article entitled "School Choice is the Cure for Over-priced, Underperforming Public Schools."
In her article, Dr. Murray points not that where parents have a choice in which schools their children attend, studies have determined that the student's test scores and overall academic performance improves. She notes that researchers from Columbia University Teachers College found there are substantial benefits from competition among schools "...including improved public school student performance, higher graduation rates, greater public-school efficiency, smaller class sizes, better teacher salaries, and improved housing values." None of the studies found that the performance of any public school student was decreased due to school choice.
Dr. Murray also noted that where the options for parents were broaded from choice between public schools to also include charter schools and/or voucher and tuition tax-credit scholarship programs the academic benefits for the students increases exponentially - all without any actual decrease of public school funding.
As Dr. Murray correctly concludes "Freedom may not be free, but when it comes to education reform, it's a lot more effective, and less expensive, than the status quo."
You may review Dr. Murray's article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23707 or http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/press/id.3517/press_detail.asp
Craig P. Alexander, Esq.
Member of the Education Alliance Board of Directors
One of California's best resources for education policy is the Pacific Research Institute (http://education.pacificresearch.org/). One of its Senior Fellows, Vicki E. Murray, Ph.D., has published an article entitled "School Choice is the Cure for Over-priced, Underperforming Public Schools."
In her article, Dr. Murray points not that where parents have a choice in which schools their children attend, studies have determined that the student's test scores and overall academic performance improves. She notes that researchers from Columbia University Teachers College found there are substantial benefits from competition among schools "...including improved public school student performance, higher graduation rates, greater public-school efficiency, smaller class sizes, better teacher salaries, and improved housing values." None of the studies found that the performance of any public school student was decreased due to school choice.
Dr. Murray also noted that where the options for parents were broaded from choice between public schools to also include charter schools and/or voucher and tuition tax-credit scholarship programs the academic benefits for the students increases exponentially - all without any actual decrease of public school funding.
As Dr. Murray correctly concludes "Freedom may not be free, but when it comes to education reform, it's a lot more effective, and less expensive, than the status quo."
You may review Dr. Murray's article at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=23707 or http://liberty.pacificresearch.org/press/id.3517/press_detail.asp
Craig P. Alexander, Esq.
Member of the Education Alliance Board of Directors