School Choice, Does it Matter?

We've heard in the news that many school districts are considering allowing parents choose where their child goes to school.  Most of the school districts that allow this have many charter schools but other cities without as many charter schools are still allowing parents to choose where their kids go to school.  However, does choice really matter?  Will it fix the broken education system in America and will our children be more successful in school?  An article in the WSJ talked about New Orleans overhauling their failing education system after Hurricane Katrina.  Most of their schools were converted to charter schools with non-union teachers.  After overhauling the school district and letting parents choose what schools their kids their graduation rate went up from 52% to 78%.  Their proficiencies in math, reading, science, and social studies also went up from 35% to 58%. This was represented using a line graph shown below.

What is more interesting is that they attribute the  higher test scores and graduation rate to choice of school but they don’t attribute it to spending more per child ($8,000 to $13,000) then they did before the overhaul and that the salaries of teachers are rising slower than they were.  However, one of the problems with having a choice in school is that every parent wants to get their child into the best school.  This chart below shows the number of slots in each category of schools.  It shows that the better the school the less number of spots.  In the article they mention that parents are fighting for spots at failing schools.  This makes me wonder if it is really beneficial to the student to have a choice in school.

This article shows that giving parents a choice in schools can help their child find a school that is a better fit for them can raise test scores.  The article mentions that Denver, Chicago, and Cleveland have tried school choice on a smaller scale but they don’t mention if it was as successful compared to them.  This made me wonder if there is any real evidence that school choice will make a difference in test scores.  What I found was that there isn't much evidence and if there is any it is really thin.  There are many factors that can contribute to higher test scores and better ranking.  It might not be the school but the parents working with their child or students are just smart.  I also wonder how sustainable this model is and if they can keep their scores up.  This article shows some of the great things about school choice but also reveals the fact that there isn't enough data and studies to show that it would be successful everywhere.

Sources:

BANCHER, STEPHANIE. "Inside the Nation's Biggest Experiment in School Choice." N.p., 29 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.  http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323398204578489333180027550?mod=WSJ_article_EditorsPicks

LEVITT, STEVEN D. "More Evidence on the (Lack Of) Impact of School Choice." N.p., 04 Oct. 2007. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

http://freakonomics.com/2007/10/04/more-evidence-on-the-lack-of-impact-of-school-choice/