An examination of the variation among educational programs in the Alum Rock Union Elementary School District, San Jose (California), during the fourth year of its educational voucher demonstration project addresses the issue of whether alternative systems can generate significant diversity in public school education. The research questions (How do…

THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION HAS INSTITUTED A NUMBER OF PROGRAMS TO ACHIEVE ETHNIC BALANCE IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. HOWEVER, THE PROBLEMS OF RACIAL INTEGRATION, WHICH RESULT FROM HOUSING, MOVEMENT OF WHITE POPULATION, GROWTH OF NONPUBLIC EDUCATION, AND THE DIFFERENTIAL RATE OF ETHNIC CHANGE IN THE VARIOUS BOROUGHS, REFLECT A CONDITION OF THE…

This paper examines the policy implications of school choice opportunites in the public sector, based on a study of the school choice behavior of a group of public school parents residing in areas where they were permitted to choose which of two dissimilar schools their child would attend. Data were gathered through interviews with 48 mothers who…

Rather than seeing the "self-selection" factor in private school enrollment as a flaw in Coleman's study, the author views this element of private choice and commitment to learning as the key to effective education and discipline. One of three theme articles: "Reflections on the 1981 Coleman study."(SJL)

Public school-choice programs are diverse and offer within- and outside-district flexibility in meeting student needs. This bulletin examined data available from the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), to answer questions about regional differences in choice programs,…

This document presents findings of a study that identified patterns of use among a broad array of open-enrollment options available to elementary and secondary students in Minnesota. During the period 1985-91, the Minnesota legislature passed several pieces of new legislation designed to: (1) increase the educational choices available to students,…

This document describes the numbers of Minnesota students who are actively selecting their schools, and the number of Minnesota school districts offering options from which families may select. The first section explains the different kinds of school choice offered to Minnesota students. The second section illustrates the change in Minnesotans'…

This report presents a second look at the effects of Minnesota's School District Enrollment Options Program, usually referred to as the Open Enrollment Program. This interdistrict enrollment program allows families and students to apply for enrollment in any school district other than the one in which they reside. This document focuses on the…

Originating in the Rand Corporation's evaluation of the voucher demonstration project in the Alum Rock Union School District (California), this study of family choice in schooling focuses on these questions: Are parents motivated and competent to make intelligent choices among competing educational alternatives? What kinds of schools do parents…

The central issue in educational reform should be how to confront educational inequalities, but the conservative movement has tried to transform the issue from one of inequality to one of "choice." The choice being promoted by conservative forces comes at the expense of community in that it seeks to set up schools that respond to the…

Magnet schools are public schools that offer specialized subject themes or educational methodologies as a way of achieving desegregated student bodies. This document reports on a study of school districts in three communities--St. Louis (Missouri), Cincinnati (Ohio), and Nashville (Tennessee)--that have made wide use of magnets in meeting their…

State legislatures have become increasingly willing to experiment with school choice. Since 1985, more than half the states have passed school choice laws. This article reports on a survey conducted in the summer of 1991 and updated in the fall of that year that focuses on state choice statutes. Six categories of school choice laws are discussed:…

In this book, an overall analysis of the urban crisis is presented and concrete suggestions are made for renewing urban education through a unique design called the "public-schools-of-choice system." Fundamentally a plan in which a range of optional school programs would be offered to diverse student groups in every community, the public schools…

Public "schools of choice" refers to a new trend in educational policy that involves various forms of competition and choice. The initiatives of individual states range from authorizing magnet schools to allowing parents to send children to neighboring school districts. What these programs have in common is that parents, as consumers of…

Most Southern public schools are still unintegrated despite the 1954 Supreme Court decision. This study sought to determine the causal factors related to the decision of those Negro mothers who did enroll their children in white schools. Samples were 207 Negro mothers with children in grades one through five who were enrolled in a North Carolina…