Working Papers

The Internet is a revolution unfolding before our eyes. However, there is a concern that this revolution will increase class and racial differences, and that a new "digital divide" between information "haves" and information "have-nots" will exacerbate existing levels of inequality in American society. At the core of this paper is the examination of how the Internet has been tapped to deliver information about the schools in ways that (either explicitly or implicitly) try to cross the digital divide. First we look at several examples of web sites that are in fact trying to cross the digital divide, by presenting local information about the schools-a service of central importance to low income parents and communities. Second, we look at the problems with harnessing the Internet as a tool for doing research about the schools. Third, we illustrate some of these problems by analyzing patterns of usage of one of these web sites to see if actual usage shows patterns of inequality or expanded usage.  We argue that the roots of the Internet as a commercial medium and as a means of supplying information to consumers have to date limited its role in creating better schools. In the final section of the paper, we look at the possibility of harnessing the Internet in a way that goes beyond the "consumer choice" model embodied in most current school-based sites to a much more expansive "citizen based" model of improving schools and, even more ambitiously, building stronger communities. We argue that present methods of employing the Internet as an information tool that treats parents as consumers of information are too timid. Instead, we argue for a much more ambitious use of the Internet's interactive and point-to-point capacities to create tools for building local communities and for training parents not to be only better consumers but also better citizens. And we argue that local schools provide a venue in which to tap these community-building possibilities.

While the U.S. Supreme Court accords states considerable authority to regulate traditional private schools, accountability measures for the most part have been modest. Proponents of expanded educational privatization through sub-contracting, charter school, and publicly funded voucher programs hope to continue this hands-off approach. Opponents seek to impose many, if not most, of the same accountability measures that apply to traditional public schools. This paper explores the accountability issue from a legal perspective. First, the paper examines the considerable authority the state has to regulate all schools, whether public or private. Then, the paper focuses on constraints that state constitutions impose on the ability of the state to delegate its responsibility and funding for public education to private actors without accompanying accountability measures. Best labeled "unconstitutional delegation law," the doctrine is evident in the first charter school litigation to reach a state supreme court. Next the paper examines how privatization in corrections, the federal Section 8 public housing voucher program, and contracting out of special education services has affected the autonomy of private organizations. These analogies shed some light on possible future patterns in education. In addition to constitutions, accountability measures emanate from state statutes, administrative agency regulations, charters, and contracts.

<Now published in (2002) Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 24(3), 159-174>
Major policy debates have arisen around the subject of educational vouchers as an alternative for financing and organizing the educational system. To a large degree comparisons between vouchers and the traditional system of educational finance and school operations have been limited to one or two dimensions of education such as the
relative impact of a particular system on achievement test scores. This paper describes a comprehensive, evaluative framework that draws upon a larger range of goals that have been posed for education in a democratic and free society. These criteria include: (1) freedom of choice; (2) productive efficiency; (3) equity; and (4) social cohesion. The
framework demonstrates the importance of and tradeoffs among these four criteria in evaluating specific educational voucher plans and comparing them to other alternatives such as charter schools as well as the more traditional public school arrangement. The paper develops the concept of "advantage maps" for comparative purposes along with a
research agenda for developing fully this approach to evaluation.

This paper estimates the effect of charter schools on both students attending them and students at neighboring public schools. Using school-level data from Michigan's standardized testing program, I compare changes in test scores between charter and public school students. I find that test scores of charter school students do not improve, and may actually decline, relative to those of public school students. The paper also exploits exogenous variation created by Michigan's charter law to identify the effects of charter schools on public schools. The results suggest that charter schools have had little or no effect on test scores in neighboring public schools.

This paper estimates the effect of charter schools on both students attending them and students at neighboring public schools. Using school-level data from Michigan's standardized testing program, I compare changes in test scores between charter and public school students. I find that test scores of charter school students do not improve, and may actually decline, relative to those of public school students. The paper also exploits exogenous variation created by Michigan's charter law to identify the effects of charter schools on public schools. The results suggest that charter schools have had little or no effect on test scores in neighboring public schools.

This paper explores two questions. First, do private schools produce greater academic achievement or attainment than public schools? And second, does this evidence provide guidance on the potential impact of voucher plans? Based on recent experimental evidence, it finds that Catholic elementary schools have modest effects on the mathematics achievement of poor, minority students in grades 2-5 (but not in grades 6-8 or among non-black students). The evidence on elementary reading achievement does not show consistent effects. In secondary schools, the non-experimental evidence does not show consistent effects on achievement. In contrast, the evidence on attainment is strikingly consistent, indicating that Catholic schools increase the probability of high school completion and college attendance, particularly for minorities in urban areas. However, the latter findings are subject to a caveat. This is because statistical corrections for selection bias may not fully eliminate bias, and may even worsen it. Overall, the evidence is instructive regarding the potential impact of small-scale voucher programs, particularly those encouraging attendance in existing Catholic schools. However, the evidence is notably unhelpful in predicting the effects of large-scale voucher programs-particularly the effects of newly-created private schools on outcomes, or the effects of competition on public schools.

Now published in (1999) The American Behavioral Scientist

Although explicit public-private partnerships are rare in education, there is a close connection between the public and private goals of education. Education inherently serves both public and private interests. It addresses public interests by preparing the young to assume adult roles that promote civic responsibility, embrace a common set of economic and political values, and share a common language. Education serves private interests in promoting individual development, understanding, and productivity that contribute to adult productivity and well-being. Unfortunately, educational policy may find itself in conflict while simultaneously serving both public and private mandates. This article reviews that challenge and presents a variety of ways on which public and private sectors collaborate educationally. It focuses most fully on the issues that arise from recent proposals for educational vouchers in which public resources would be used to promote and fund schools in the private marketplace.