The lessons of school choice

The Heritage Foundation ^ | 02.21.06 | Rebecca Hagelin

[Coleus]

Choosing how your children are educated should be as routine in America as the ability to choose your neighborhood, your church and your place of employment.

It stuns me that in 2006, the vast majority of students in failing schools are still trapped there. My husband and I have enjoyed the marvelous blessing of choosing freely between private schools, public schools and home schooling for our children. Yet, the reality for most parents is no real choice at all.

The No Child Left Behind Act, enacted in 2002 by a large majority of Congress, was aimed at correcting the "soft bigotry of low expectations," in President Bush's memorable phrase. Academic achievement would be boosted by demanding accountability – and educators would be held accountable by testing students regularly and measuring their progress. The parents of students in failing schools were supposed to have at least some choice to move to schools that perform.

Four years after NCLB was enacted, folks on both ends of the ideological spectrum are unhappy with the results and what it has failed to deliver. A bipartisan commission has been formed to figure out how to address the failings of NCLB before the legislation comes up for renewal next year.

It's easy to see why liberals object to NCLB. One of their most diehard constituencies, teachers' unions, reacts to the notion of accountability with fear and dread. How dare those know-nothing parents demand to know whether their children are learning! The nerve!

Still, there's more to a good education law than testing and accountability (which are certainly needed). As conservatives have consistently noted, parents of all income levels should have more choices in where their children are educated. In a recent story for "Family News in Focus," Heritage education expert Jennifer Marshall says policymakers need to return to promoting choice in education, which was part of NCLB's original intent.

Yes, some choice is contained in NCLB: "But it's important to remember that this was a very, very limited amount of choice and that this limited amount of choice has not been well implemented," Marshall said. As the law ground through the legislative process, the amount and scope of choice it contained became significantly watered down.

The lack of choice is pathetic, considering how much increased choice can help students. A Heritage paper written by Krista Kafer and Heritage analyst Kirk Johnson at the same time NCLB was born, focused on a study by researchers at Harvard University, Mathematica Policy Research and the University of Wisconsin that shows how choice in education equals improved education. The three-year study of the correlation between voucher-like scholarships offered by the School Choice Scholarships Foundation and low-income student achievement in New York City revealed:

• Standardized reading and math test scores for black students who used the vouchers to attend private schools for three years were 9.2 percentile points higher than those of comparable black students who did not attend a private school.
• Overall test scores for black voucher recipients who attended a private school for at least one of the three years were, on average, 7.6 percentile points higher than those of black students who had never attended a private school.
• Parental satisfaction with their child's school was higher among parents of students who attended a school of choice. When asked to assign a grade to their children's school, 42 percent of voucher parents gave their school an "A," while only 10 percent of the parents of the control group public-school students did likewise.

The benefits of school choice can be observed in other parts of the world, too. A chapter in the "2006 Index of Economic Freedom" highlights how many poor parents in Lagos, Nigeria, make every sacrifice possible to send their children to private schools because of the public schools there are so deplorable. And it pays off: "In Lagos State, the mean math score advantage over government schools was about 15 and 19 percentage points, respectively, more in private registered and unregistered schools, while in English it was 23 and 30 percentage points more," the Index notes.

And how does choosing to homeschool your children affect their education? Study after study (available on the website of the Home School Legal Defense Association) proves that homeschooled students, as a whole, are better educated than their peers in public schools. Take math and reading: One comprehensive study revealed that while K-12 public-school students were scoring, on average, in the 50th percentile for both subjects, homeschoolers were in the 82nd percentile for math and the 87th percentile for reading. Yet, the education "establishment" still strongarms our government into sending the cash their way instead of providing tax relief, vouchers or any real financial incentives to help make homeschooling a reality for more families. It's a disgrace that in 2006, our education system neither rewards nor even recognizes obvious success.

Children deserve the best education possible, and the way to make that happen is to empower parents to choose how their children will be educated. It's essential to the future of our children and our country that we make school choice the centerpiece of a renewed No Child Left Behind Act.

Rebecca Hagelin is a vice president of The Heritage Foundation and the author of Home Invasion: Protecting Your Family in a Culture that's Gone Stark Raving Mad.

First appeared on WorldNetDaily

[metmom]

ping again

[Born Conservative]

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[wintertime]

Yet, the reality for most parents is no real choice at all.
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The only choice that most parents have are to use the government "schools" ( really Marxist indoctrination centers) and having armed police and foster care workers knocking at their door.

As for those who say, "I moved to a good government school district.", that is like Marie Antoinette saying, "Let them eat cake."

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Wrong...Every parent has a choice. Some choose to complain, some choose to act.

In most of Europe, parents do NOT have a choice.

In ALL of America, parents can

a) send kids to private school
b) move to a neighborhood with a better school
c) homeschool

We chose to act, after trying option b) and option a), respectively. We ended up with option c).

Best decision we ever made. Our oldest, 17 yo Freeper "Ultra Sonic 007", has been homoeschooled for 6 years. He landed 2 scholarships, getting a full ride in a fast-track Mathematics program at a prestigious college.

Our youngest, an 11 yo wanna-be Freeper, is following close behind.

Parents have a choice. It is about doing whatever it takes, if that decision is important enough.

[Tired of Taxes]

Ping!

[Izzy Dunne]

has been homoeschooled for 6 years.

I'm hoping that's a typo...

[latina4dubya]

Parents have a choice. It is about doing whatever it takes, if that decision is important enough.

this is very true... but because most have come off the "government school conveyor belt," most don't even realize that they do have real choices... it mainly works like this: "my child is 5... i must enroll him in the school down the street." and there he goes--right into the system--for the rest of his life... because chances are, he will do the same thing with his own children...

the longer i homeschool, the more bizarre the government school system seems to me...

i know i'll hear, "but not everyone can homeschool." the truth is, many more could if they REALLY, REALLY wanted too... it does depend on how important this issue really is to someone... we've homeschooled right from the start... agreed to homeschool before we even got married... the funny thing is, we feel not so much that we've chosen to homeschool, but that it has chosen us...

[scripter]

I'm hoping that's a typo...

I make a very similar typo all the time - I think I've caught it everytime before posting. We homeschool and I've followed issues surrounding homosexuality for years, so occasionally I type homoschooled by accident. Ouch.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

I'm hoping that's a typo...

It's more than a typo, its a faux-pas!

[wintertime]

Personally, I have very mixed feelings about vouchers. I fear that they could simply be a means of turning private schools into government schools.

Tax credits would be better. Tax credits for the parents and for anyone who wished to sponsor a child or wish to give to a private scholarship foundation.

The goal should be complete privatization of universal K-12 education.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Disagree with the tax credits. The last thing we need is more tinkering with the tax code.

Feds should just get out of education and let the states deal with it.

[wintertime]

Wrong...Every parent has a choice. Some choose to complain, some choose to act.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

ImaGraftedBranch,

My three younger children were homeschooled. We chose your option "C" after investigating the private schools and government school in our area. We were not going to move.

In my opinion, homeschooling should be considered the most natural and healthy way to educate and raise a child to maturity. All other options should be considered "institutionalization".

My 3 kids were accepted to college at the ages of 13, 12, and 13. All had finished their general requirements and all levels of Calculus by age 15. The two younger were graduates with B.S. degrees in mathematics by age 18. The oldest of these two just completed a masters degree in math at the age of 20. The oldest is a nationally and internationally ranked athlete. He chose accounting since meshed well with his training and travel schedule. He was a mere 13 courses shy of a degree when he left on a 2 year church assignment in Eastern Europe. He returned this year, fluent in Russian, and is now completing his degree.

My children and your children are NORMAL. It is the institutionalized child who is delayed both educationally and socially.

However,,,,,saying that all parents can choose is like Marie Antoinette saying, "Let them eat cake." There are single moms working two jobs. There are welfare moms who are so poorly educated themselves that they are utterly incapable of reading or doing basic math themselves. They are also surrounded by a culture that has few people that could assist them or their children.

a

[wintertime]

and let the states deal with it.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

That is not enough. Government on all levels needs to get out of education.

Education can never be neutral in content or consequences, politically, culturally, or in morals and ethics ( this means religion).

Even if school districts were as small as a suburban subdivision block, those who are the stronger political bullies WILL impose their political, cultural, and moral/ethical worldview on the less powerful.....and....the biggest bullies get to force others to pay for it.

Government schools are an offense against freedom of conscience.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

In theory I agree that government should be out of the schools.But in reality I worry about the kids whose parents could care less about them.

I know there is tremendous waste of tax payer money in the public schools- But tax payers do benefit from an educated populace.

I can not rectify the two issues.

[cinives]

You are using the worst case to justify the most destructive solution.

Why do you focus on the very few whose parents are so messed up they have not a care about their kids to justify trapping the millions whose parents DO care into a system that does not meet anyone's needs ?

The taxpayers are not now geting an educated populace, and the little education many get puts them firmly on the Democrat plantation.

Focus on the positive. If abolishing the government control of education is good for 98% of kids and families, why not do that and come up with something else for the 2% ?