The Education Choice Movement
The Education Choice Movement in America - Part I
This post is the first of a two-part series on Education Choice. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of the movement, including what it is, a history of the movement, and how it came to be. Part II, (coming next month) discusses approaches to education choice at the state level, alternative schooling models, key players in the movement, and recent developments in the space.
What is Education Choice or School Choice?
Education choice is a movement that advocates for parents to have the power to choose the type of education their child receives. It's a concept that has gained momentum over the years, with proponents believing that it leads to better educational outcomes for students.
School choice refers to specific programs that aim to give parents a choice between public, private, charter, or alternative schools. In some cases, state-driven school choice policies provide vouchers or scholarships to offset the cost of private education.
Often, people use these two terms interchangeably. In this post, we will use the term education choice to refer to the broader movement and school choice to refer to government and policy-specific topics.
The History of School Choice
The concept of School choice dates to the early 1950s when economist Milton Friedman proposed a voucher system in his book "Capitalism and Freedom." His idea was that the government should provide vouchers to families, which they could use to pay for the school of their choice, including private schools.
However, the idea of choice in education didn’t really gain traction until the 1990s. This is about the time when charter schools emerged as an alternative to traditional public schools.
Charter schools are publicly-funded schools that are run independently by organizations, such as non-profits, under a contract or "charter" with a government authority. The intent behind the creation of charter schools was to promote innovation, competition, and educational excellence.
Charter schools are open to all students, typically do not charge tuition, and are subject to the same regulations and oversight as traditional public schools, but they are granted greater autonomy over their curriculum, operations, and budget. In exchange, these schools often have greater accountability to the states in which they are located to meet specific educational goals and performance standards.
The US Government & School Choice
In the United States, control over education policy is largely delegated and managed at the state level, rather than by the Federal government. However, there have been some legislative policies enacted at the Federal level that have evolved the school choice movement.
Federal Policies in Education Choice
In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which allowed for school choice in some cases, particularly in schools that were deemed to be failing.
The NCLB Act aimed to improve educational outcomes for all students, particularly those from low-income families or who were English language learners. The law required states to administer annual standardized tests to all students in grades 3-8 and hold schools accountable for meeting specific academic benchmarks, such as proficiency in math and reading. Schools that consistently failed to meet these benchmarks faced consequences, such as being labeled as "failing schools" and were required to provide additional services or offer options for students to attend other schools.
While the NCLB Act had good intentions, it faced criticism for its heavy emphasis on standardized testing, which some argued led to a narrowing of the curriculum and a focus on test preparation rather than true learning. The law was also criticized for its heavy-handed approach to school accountability, which some argued unfairly punished schools and teachers for factors outside of their control, such as poverty and the socioeconomic backgrounds of students.
In 2015, the NCLB Act was replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which maintained some of the accountability provisions of NCLB but gave more flexibility to states in terms of how they measured student success and held schools accountable.
Another significant education policy at the federal level was introduced in 2009 by the Obama administration and the Department of Education. The Administration announced a $4.5 Billion grant program called Race to the Top, which was designed to spur innovation and reward state and local school districts for enacting educational policies and instituting performance-based measurement. One of the results of this policy was that states expanded their caps on the number of charter schools permitted to operate.
Race to the Top was designed to incentivize states to receive significant federal funding by showing their commitment to and implementation of education policy reform. However, some critics argue that the policy over-emphasized standardized testing and the narrowing of the curriculum.
School Choice at the State Level
School choice policies differ significantly from state to state. Minnesota was the first state to enact a charter school law in 1991, and since then, over 40 states have adopted related laws. In part 2 of this blog series, we’ll cover state school and education-choice legislation in further detail.
Where Do Things Stand Now?
The education and school choice movement in the United States continues to evolve each year. Part 2 of this series will also discuss the education models that have emerged as alternatives to public schools that have gained traction in the education choice movement. We’ll also cover key players in the movement, and recent developments at the policy level (particularly since the Pandemic began) that are shifting the school choice landscape.
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