Essay on Public School Choice Improves Student Achievement

School Choice Improves Student Achievement In his new budget, President Obama proposed to substantially increase federal spending to improve public schools. Yet steady spending increases of the last three decades resulted in little change in the poor achievement of students that worries many citizens. Much research, however, shows that what works well is parental choice among schools fairly competing for students as in the case of traditional, tuition-based private schools. Rigorous studies comparing students randomly selected or not to oversubscribed private and charter schools as well as large, statistically controlled surveys show that these schools excel in achievement and parental satisfaction. Surveys show the majority of†¦show more content†¦Viewing charter schools as competitors to the schools they run directly and under teachers union pressures, district school boards further restrict charter schools. Viewing them as competitors, they impose dysfunctional regulations on charter schools and deny applications for new ones. For these reasons, the numbers of charter schools have stopped growing at their initial fast pace. Unions, public school authorities, and legislators have even more successfully resisted even successful school vouchers that provide scholarships for parents to send their children to independent or parochial schools. The advantages of vouchers are that they largely bypass the dysfunctional regulations and practices of the public sector and allow parents to choose the schools most suitable for their children, which they best know and care about. Large-scale studies, moreover, show that the higher the percentage of students attending private and charter schools within states, the higher the average achievement of all students. Studies of countries show the same pattern; the greater the percentage of students attending private schools, the higher the country’s achievement. As shown in comparisons of public and private provision of services in many industries, private competition works well for consumers, allows successful contenders to thrive, and causes failing organizations to change or close. The next logical step in school choice is for-profitShow MoreRelatedShould Children Have A Special Need?1676 Words   |  7 PagesShould children in today’s world who have a special need or don’t have a special need be held back in school? Should they be the one’s who are responsible for not reaching academic proficiency due to having a disability or unable to reach grade level standards? The No Child Left Behind Act gives all children a fair, equal chance to reach the minimum proficiency on standard academic assessments that they are expected to take whether they have a disability or not. The current talk among professionalsRead More Public Education Essay1454 Words   |  6 PagesPublic education in the United States is perhaps one of the most critical issues we face as a nation. Once pronouncing the United States as a â€Å"nation at risk†, the educational institution began to implement one reform strategy after another. In efforts to improve schooling for K-12 students, education reform has fiddled with class size, revised graduation requirements, and created standardized testing just to name a few. Unfortunately, traditional public schools are still failing to provide studentsRead MoreCharter Schools Vs. School Schools1261 Words   |  6 Pagescharter schools are educating more that half the students in some American cities (Zernike 1). These charter schools make promises to parents and students that are hard to pass up in many cities, where public education is lacking and private education is out of reach for many. 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