Henry Levin's National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, based at Teachers College, Columbia University, hasn't always done important and well-balanced work, but it's certainly been prolific. What's more, several of the recent "occasional papers" now available on its burgeoning website strike us as worth knowing about, maybe even reading.
- Can Public Policy Affect Private School Cream-Skimming? Despite its "have you stopped beating your wife" title, this is an interesting analysis (I can't tell you how long because the pages aren't numbered but it feels like about 40) by economists David Figlio (University of Florida) and Joe Stone (University of Oregon). Using what they describe as a "unique" data set-from the National Education Longitudinal Survey-they conclude that a wide array of public policies influences who ends up going to private (and, for that matter, public) schools in a given community. This naturally leads to wide-ranging policy implications. For example, say the authors, "fighting crime successfully and lowering the violent crime rate will likely improve the ability of public schools to retain higher socio-economic status and ability students and lessen the disparity in peer groups between the public and private sectors." Some of us might think this obvious. But it's good to have empirical analysis to buttress a normal human impulse: the instinct of parents to weigh a variety of environmental, economic, contextual and educational factors in choosing a school for their child. To the extent that policy makers want to affect school choices, therefore, they are well advised to understand how many different polices bear on those decisions. (Occasional paper #31.)
- Tuition Tax Credits: What do we know so far? British economist (and University of South Carolina business school professor) Clive Belfield has penned a short (12 page) paper on the economics of tuition tax credits, a topic that hasn't elicited much research, though such credits are on the books in (Belfield says) five states. Here he reviews what evidence he could lay his hands on and supplies some added analysis. Some of his conclusions will be more pleasing to tax-credit advocates than others. Using a "comprehensive" framework, he finds some important positives (e.g. enhanced freedom, greater efficiency) as well as negatives (greater segregation, diminished social cohesion). The purely economic analysis is largely negative. The author also seems quite off base in his explanation of the role of tax credits in the pending federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act amendments. He seems to think they're there. I certainly can't find them! (Occasional paper #33.)
- The Effects of Catholic Schools on Religiosity, Education, and Competition. Despite its mega-title, this is just a 38-page paper, written by DePaul economist William Sander (no, not the statistician Bill Sanders). In this domain, of course, there's been much previous research. Sander pokes into some of it and does some data analysis of his own, again using the Privatization Center's four "comprehensive" criteria for evaluating private schools and programs: freedom of choice, efficiency, equity and social cohesion. (This paper doesn't actually tackle the fourth of these.) Catholic schools, in Sander's analysis, fare well on freedom and reasonably well on equity, due to their positive effects on low income and minority students. His analysis of their "productive efficiency" leads to what he terms a "mixed" finding. I don't find that part of the paper very persuasive or thorough, however. Have a look for yourself, but be warned that it's fairly technical. (Occasional paper #32.)
Papers are available from the website of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at http://www.ncspe.org/ (click on "Occasional Papers" for a list of titles). The Center can also be reached at 212-678-3259.
