What Is Next for School Choice?

Nearly two decades after the first modern school voucher program was enacted in Milwaukee, questions have emerged about whether school choice is capable of delivering the results that enthusiasts first promised. Today, although there are more than 4,000 charter schools and 150,000 students enrolled in private school choice programs, the impact of school choice on K-12 education remains largely unclear. AEI’s Frederick M. Hess argued in a recent article in The American magazine that choice too often substitutes for real market-based strategies. Others have suggested that choice undercuts academic standards and shows little evidence of advancing systemic reform in schools. Meanwhile, supporters maintain that such claims are misplaced and that choice-based reforms continue to make advances both on the ground and politically. As a result, the K-12 choice movement has made inroads on the left while raising concerns on the right. In light of the 2008 election, it is worth asking what is next for school choice. Joining Hess at this event will be Robert Enlow of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Howard Fuller of Marquette University, Sol Stern of the Manhattan Institute, and Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform. AEI’s Henry Olsen will moderate.

About the Author

 

Frederick M.
Hess



  • An educator, political scientist and author, Frederick M. Hess studies a range of K-12 and higher education issues. He is the author of influential books on education including “The Same Thing Over and Over,” “Education Unbound,” “ Common Sense School Reform,” “ Revolution at the Margins” and “Spinning Wheels,” and he pens the Education Week blog, Rick Hess Straight Up. His work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, American Politics Quarterly, Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, The Washington Post, New York Times, The Atlantic and National Review. He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, stretching the school dollar, the impact of education research and No Child Left Behind.  He serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public School Charters as well as on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 4.0 SCHOOLS and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. A former high school social studies teacher, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University and Harvard University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum.


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  • Email: rhess@aei.org
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