Western Michigan University's College of Education is part of nationwide research project that has found school choice yields mixed results. Project findings, released jointly today, show that while advocates of school choice offer it as a certain path to school reform founded on free-market principles and opponents warn of serious unintended consequences, a close examination of research on the topic finds a decidedly mixed picture of choice's benefits and shortcomings.
"School Choice: Evidence and Recommendations," a collection of 10 policy briefs on specific topics under the umbrella of choice, brings together some of the top scholars in the field and presents a comprehensive overview of the best current knowledge of these important policies. The series is co-edited by Dr. Gary Miron, professor of education at WMU, along with Dr. Kevin G. Welner, associate professor of education at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Dr. Patricia H. Hinchey, associate professor of education at Penn State University, and Dr. Alex Molnar, professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Arizona State University.
Education Management Organizations (EMOs) are private firms that manage charter schools or conventional public schools under contracts, either with charter holders or with public school districts. The EMO industry emerged in the 1990s as part of an effort to utilize market forces to reform public education.
The Profiles report is intended for a broad audience that includes policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board members as well as investors, EMO employees or education industry participants. It provides a one-of-a-kind, comprehensive overview of the for-profit education management industry.
Since its announcement, there has been substantial interest in the potential effects of the universal scholarship. Because of this interest and because other communities are replicating or planning to replicate the program, an evaluation that examines the impact of the scholarship program is critical. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine whether the Kalamazoo Promise--through its transformative effect on the education culture within the school district--improves the progress of students through their K-12 experience and better prepares them for entering a postsecondary education program.
The evaluation is both formative and summative in nature. Tracking and monitoring short-term and intermediate outcomes requires that we partner with the school district and other key stakeholders groups to collect data. Based on the data we collect throughout the duration of the evaluation, we are preparing user-friendly formative feedback that can be used by the district to monitor the progress, identify obstacles, and inform changes that need to occur. This is, essentially, the formative aspect of the evaluation.
The College of Education in collaboration with the Gordon A. Cain Center at Louisiana State University (LSU) is conducting an evaluation of the Systemic Initiative in Education, funded by The Rapides Foundation. The evaluation began in September 2005 and will continue until September 2010 - one year after the Systemic Initiative has been completed.