Brian P. Gill, P. Michael Timpane, Karen E. Ross and Dominic J. Brewer, RAND, 2001
In ten years, the choice movement in American education has grown from infancy to early adolescence. After weighing what we know about charter schools and vouchers during this short life span, RAND analysts announced last week that the experiments in choice should continue. The authors of this 266-page report examined available evidence on the impact of vouchers and charter schools on five dimensions that, they say, represent the basic goals of American education: academic achievement, choice, access, integration and civic socialization. In terms of academic achievement, the study found that students in charter schools or using vouchers have not been harmed by the experience. In fact, their study suggests modest achievement gains for African-American students after one or two years in voucher schools (as compared with local public schools). The study also confirms what many other surveys have shown: that parents of charter and voucher students are highly satisfied with their children's schools. In truth, the report notes, the experiment with choice in the United States has been conducted on such a relatively small and ill-funded scale (less than one percent of the fall 2000 enrollment was made up of children in charter schools) that it is impossible to provide definitive answers to some of the most important questions - notably those concerning total demand, supply responses by educational providers, and school characteristics and performance at scale. The available evidence, however, shows that voucher and charter programs are most academically effective when they include existing private schools, enforce requirements for student achievement testing, and actively inform parents about schools and their effectiveness. The basic policy point, according to the evidence accumulated by RAND, is that we should help the choice movement enter adulthood. To download the report in PDF or to order a hard copy for $15, visit http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1118.
