School Choice: The Findings

This small publication brings a lot to the debate on school choice. Herb Walberg of the libertarian think tank, The Cato Institute, pulls together dozens of studies to show the impact of school choice. There are stats showing that in areas like Milwaukee and DC that school choice works. Public schools are failing because they have no competition. They have a monopoly on the education of middle-class and poor children. Moreover, this publication provides data and research that shows that public schools improve when they have to compete with private schools. School choice is overwhelmingly popular in poor minority communities. Test scores, reading and math levels and overall satisfaction improve greatly when parents are allowed to choose where their children attend school. Federal and state governments continue to pour billions of dollars into failing schools; meanwhile, a great solution is right in front of them, school choice. School Choice, The Findings, leaves the emotions out of the debate and gives ample evidence to support its position. It is well worth your time, if you have school-age children or are interested in this debate.

In this book, one of America's most experienced scholars on education gives an objective review of the evidence on school choice. In a slim volume that comes in at just over 100 pages, he surveys and summarizes the evidence. What is shows is: (1) America's public schools are remarkably bad, we both spend more and get less than nearly any other advanced nation; and (2) every form of choice (charter schools and vouchers) consistently improves the performance of schools. There are, of course, those who contest this conclusion. The teacher's unions have commissioned a number of studies which try to prove that charter schools and vouchers are no good. As Walberg discusses, these studies are deeply flawed. They either pick only a very small and unrepresentative sample, and/or they look only at how the school compares to the national average, not how much they have improved. Most charters or vouchers draw upon children from the worst schools, so they come into them doing very badly. Thus, even if the choice schools greatly improve their performance -- as they often do -- their performance may still lag behind the national average. This study confirms what common sense suggests. Our present, overly-bureaucratic public schools are nightmares. The single best way to reform them is to give parents choice, either through having more charter schools, or, even better, through vouchers.