By elucidating the distinct values of charter school advocates, this thesis will draw out unspoken assumptions about the nature of how charter schools function in America’s public school arena. Laying out the framework of three theories of charter school action will enable discussions on charter school policy to start from a shared point of understanding.

By elucidating the distinct values of charter school advocates, this thesis will draw out unspoken assumptions about the nature of how charter schools function in America’s public school arena. Laying out the framework of three theories of charter school action will enable discussions on charter school policy to start from a shared point of understanding.

The purposes of this study was to investigate the junior high school students¡¦ perceptions of ¡uQuality Senior High School Program¡v and the factors of selecting senior high schools for further study. 1,112 8th and 9th graders of Pingtung County junior high schools were sampled to complete a 37 ¡V items questionnaire. Based on reliability and validity analyses, the 37 ¡V items were divided into 6 dimensions as follows: school and teachers¡¦ performances, recommendation from relatives or friends, school propaganda, personal selection factor, school activity, and the distance between home and school. The descriptive analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Logistic Regression were conducted to come to the following findings: 1. Most of the countries in the world adopt school district, in high school education and their students enroll nearby schools mostly. 2. The main purpose of promoting the Quality Senior High School Program is to make the students who have good achievements remain in local schools, and develop the school characterization. 3. The students in the north district of Pingtung County have highly approval towards Quality Senior High School Program. 4. The top three factors that influenced junior high students selecting which senior high to study are individual factors, the reputation of school and the faculties, and the transportation convenience. 5. The eighth grades and students from remote areas have higher recognition of the Quality Senior High School Program. 6. Students from different background are wide varied while making school choice. 7. Over 50% of junior high students are willing to enroll senior high schools nearby. 8. Individual factors, school activities, and distance between home and school will effectively predict the students¡¦ willingness to select neighboring senior high schools. According to the results stated above, the researcher offers several suggestions for the educational authorities, senior high schools and junior high schools in the north district of Pingtung County, hoping to be of referential value as far as related research and practice are concerned.

Although intra-district performance-based school choice as featured in NCLB and state laws has existed for over a decade, scant attention has been devoted to the study of how the policies and programs are operated by school districts. Policymakers and education practitioners have adopted performance-based school choice to address school achievement disparities, yet it is currently unclear if federal and state mandated choice programs are being managed with fidelity to the egalitarian design of the policy. Few researchers have examined whether these policies achieve their specified goals of increasing access to high performing schools for students residentially assigned to underperforming locations. This study utilizes a qualitative comparative case study design that contrasts school choice implementation in two large, socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically diverse school districts in the state of Texas. As the primary method of data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with: school district superintendents, school board members, choice program administrators, principals, community leaders, and parents. This study contributes to the school choice research literature through analyzing program operations, community influence in policy implementation, and the resulting implications for access and equity. The study concludes with policy recommendations to ensure maximum advantage to the students that school choice is designed to benefit. / text

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Situated within Toronto's expanding and increasingly segregated educational marketplace, this study examines how parents of students at one elite publicly funded specialized arts high school make meaning of their school choice decision. Utilizing a Neo-Marxist framework, I explore the role that material and symbolic resources play in making this school choice both available and exclusive. I conduct a critical discourse analysis of parent narratives to expose how they mobilize dominant discourses of the arts in order to produce the school as a good choice, and themselves as good parents. This research challenges dominant conceptions of the arts in education by showing how the arts are used to reinforce, obscure, and justify existing social hierarchies in school settings and society at large. This study further serves as an example of how arts education research can move beyond positivist conceptions of the arts.

Situated within Toronto's expanding and increasingly segregated educational marketplace, this study examines how parents of students at one elite publicly funded specialized arts high school make meaning of their school choice decision. Utilizing a Neo-Marxist framework, I explore the role that material and symbolic resources play in making this school choice both available and exclusive. I conduct a critical discourse analysis of parent narratives to expose how they mobilize dominant discourses of the arts in order to produce the school as a good choice, and themselves as good parents. This research challenges dominant conceptions of the arts in education by showing how the arts are used to reinforce, obscure, and justify existing social hierarchies in school settings and society at large. This study further serves as an example of how arts education research can move beyond positivist conceptions of the arts.

This dissertation is a compilation of three studies related to public school choice issues. Chapter 2 examines whether access to public schools of choice influences a household’s decision to choose private school for their child. I employ a multistate, individual-level data-set on students and their families — for which I have been granted access to restricted geo-code information. I supplement these data by matching students with their respective school districts using geographic information systems (GIS); I then examine whether relative measures of public school choice (PSC) in a school district influence the household’s public-private school decision. I find slight evidence that households respond to general measures of choice, though the implied effects appear to be trivial. Conditional on the presence of either PSC type of school in a district, I find more consistently significant crowd-out effects for competition measures from magnet schools, while charter school measures elicit stronger private-sector crowd-out effects, roughly three times those of the respective magnet school measures. Chapter 3 examines the statewide educational policies and student, household, and school district-level attributes that influence the demand for interdistrict and intra-district public schools of choice. In the context of a multinomial probit model, I also estimate the demand for private school as a third alternative to attending an assigned school. I find evidence to suggest that households substitute between intra-district and interdistrict schools of choice.. I also find that mobility patterns may significantly increase the probability a household opts out of district. Chapter 4 is an exploratory analysis that examines the qualities that distinguish school districts as net-losers, net-keepers, or net- gainers of students in their public schools. In particular, I examine how public schools of choice affect the net flow of students across the public sector. I find that charter schools appear to locate in districts that are net-losers of students, where students are opting into private school. I also find evidence to suggest that net-loser districts may signal better quality school districts with more diverse options available to facilitate positive student-school matches.

Studies focusing on Catholic schools as a proxy for all private education or all private religious education miss important variances within the private school sector, especially at the first grade level. The implication of this is that the vast majority of secondary school choice studies are incomplete; the elementary schooling decision of the parents should be included for all secondary school choice analyses. I augment the scope of a households first grade schooling choice by offering a rich model that includes the public schooling option and the most detailed typology of private schools to date: Catholic, Evangelical or Fundamental Protestant, Mainline Protestant or Other Faith, and Secular. Upon selecting a school type, I evaluate a students performance within this selected sector. While critics argue that selection and omitted variable biases generate test score gains for students rather than private school superiority, I include a childs fall kindergarten reading, math, and general knowledge test scores to control for a students knowledge acquired prior to kindergarten enrollment. I examine whether higher first grade test scores are the result of selection into the private sector or preeminence of the private sector. I find kindergarten test performance, household income, and parental education are significant and positive factors in selecting a school. Additionally, household religiosity and the denominational composition in the households home county are also significant determinants of schooling choice. Results from voucher simulations indicate that an increase in private school attendance does not translate to uniform enrollment increases at all types of private schools. White and Hispanic girls display similar patterns for Catholic and Protestant schools while African-American and white girls select Evangelical schools in analogous trends. Findings suggest that, while a students ability is the driving force behind first grade achievement, the type of school attended in first grade does affect a childs test score for all three tests. First grade private school enrollment makes below average achievers in kindergarten into better students in the first grade. Private schools offer no significant benefit for first grade enrollment to high achieving kindergarten students.

The purpose of the study was to determine the attitudes of parents of students enrolled in non-IGE elementary schools of the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township, relative to existing educational programs provided in district non-IGE elementary schools, educational alternative preferences for elementary school students, and reporting of pupil progress to parents. The study population consisted of 1,244 parents from the 3,522 households having children enrolled in district non-IGE elementary schools. A survey instrument was developed consisting of fifty-five statement items, each utilizing a Likert scale with forced response. One instrument was sent to parents in each of the 8,522 households having children enrolled in district non-IGE elementary schools.The following summary of the findings is based on an analysis of parent responses received from the study population.1. Most responding parents expressed pride in the Washington Township non-IGE elementary schools and perceived the overall educational program quality of the schools as high, with children learning what parents preferred children to learn in school.2. Parents responding were generally satisfied with child-teacher relationships, student instruction, the degree of respect for individuals in school, and the degree of difficulty of educational materials.3. The majority of parent respondents perceived children as comfortable with the classroom atmosphere, experiencing successful school progress, and eager to go to school.4. Parent respondents generally indicated school rules, regulations, and policies were reasonable and that order and control in school should not be more strict.5. Most parents responding expressed positive attitudes toward existing parent-school relations.6. A majority of parent-respondents expressed satisfaction with the appropriateness of the report card parents received regarding student progress and did not perceive an over emphasis on grades by the school.7. Most parents preferred being kept informed of student progress through the use of parent-teacher conferences and written evaluations. The types of written evaluations most preferred by responding parents were check lists of specific skills in particular subjects and report cards utilizing A, B, C, D, and F grades.8. A majority of parents responding to survey items relative to alternative programs expressed interest in alternative educational programs for children.9. Parent respondents interested in alternative educational programs for children were almost evenly divided in opinion relative to a willingness to have children transported at least thirty minutes each way in order to attend preferred alternative educational programs.10. Parents expressing interest in alternative educational programs indicated a willingness to send children to schools with the following alternative educational programs, in descending order: Continuous Progress, Basic Fundamental, and Creative Arts.11. A majority of the parents expressing an opinion relative to the need for at least one junior high alternative educational program available to all junior high students in the township expressed a willingness to consider sending children to a junior high school with an alternative educational program.Study research and findings support the contention that school officials can advantageously survey parents as a means of securing parental attitudes, views, and expectations to plan more effectively for future educational programs.