| This study measures three choice initiatives against educational indicators suggested by Odden (1990) and Goals 2000 to determine whether vouchers, private management of schools, or charter schools offered to a select group of students can provide for all students improved access to educational opportunities by stimulating marketplace pressures in public education. The first study, The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, used several methodological approaches to collect data on achievement test results, attendance, parent attitudes, parental involvement, and program attrition. The second, The UMBC Evaluation of the Tesseract Program in Baltimore City, compared outcomes attained by children in public schools managed by the private management firm, Education Alternatives, Inc., to children in similar schools managed by City employees. Data was collected from classroom observations, questionnaires, interviews, and student performance in the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills and the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program. The third, 1997 Colorado Charter Schools Evaluation Study: The Characteristics, Status, and Student Achievement Data of Colorado Charter Schools, presents descriptive information on 24 of the 50 charter schools in Colorado. It reviewed charter applications, contracts, annual reports, and school improvement plans from Colorado Department of Education files; it created data matrices oil the charters' educational program, budget, governing process, and population, and used questionnaires on the impact of waivers granted to individual schools, services to at-risk students, accountability issues, and lessons learned.; This study concludes that the programs succeed in critical, albeit limited, ways. Each report shows that the choice program it examines engenders increased parental participation, and that the children served benefit from more effective pedagogical strategies and, in some cases, improved test scores. However, serious flaws in controlling for certain educational indicators preclude the reports from offering incontrovertible evidence that one specific choice application is a panacea for problems plaguing American education. This study recommends points to consider for studying future attempts at education reform, and argues for educational programs appealing to parental involvement, partnership between private and public enterprise, and individual student need. |
