Contextualizing Homeschooling Data: A Response to Rudner

Rudner (1999) presents the results of a survey and testing program, administered by Bob Jones University (BJU), for homeschooling students. In this response, we applaud Rudner's contribution to building a greater understanding of the homeschooling movement. However, we also voice a strong concern that what Rudner contributed with one hand, he took back with the other. We contend that Rudner's analysis of the BJU data fails to offer a straightforward explanation of important and striking limitations. The unfortunate result is an inaccurate portrayal of homeschoolers as a white, Christian, monolithic population. Although the results of Rudner's analyses are likely valid for the particular population he studied, his insufficient attention to the data's bias has led to an erroneous picture of homeschooling

Universal Access to a Quality Education: Research and Recommendations for the Elimination of Curricular Stratification

This policy brief makes the case for schools across the country to put an end to policies that cast off students into unchallenging, low-track classrooms. The authors recommend a clear process for the phasing out of curricular stratification in grades K-10, beginning with the lowest track and granting meaningful access to AP and IB courses to all students. The brief includes model statutory language to implement its recommendations

Premature celebrations: The persistence of inter-district funding disparities

Two interlocking claims are being increasing made around school finance: that states have largely met their obligations to resolve disparities between local public school districts and that the bulk of remaining disparities are those that persist within school districts. These local decisions are described as irrational and unfair school district practices in the allocation of resources between individual district schools. In this article, we accept the basic contention of within-district inequities. But we begin with a critique of the empirical basis for the claims that within-district disparities are the dominant form of persistent disparities in school finance, finding that claims to this effect are largely based on one or a handful of deeply flawed analyses. Next, we present empirical analysis, using national data, of 16-year trends (1990 to 2005) and recent patterns (2005 to 2007) of between-district disparities, finding that state efforts to resolve between-district disparities are generally incomplete and inadequate and that in some states, between-district disparities have actually increased over time

Much Ado about Politics (and Much Ignored about Research Evidence)

In this Policy Memo, Kevin Welner explains that Louisiana Gov. Jindal and other opponents either misunderstand or misrepresent the actions of the US Department of Justice, which is attempting to bring Louisiana’s voucher program within the scope of existing law and to avoid predictable harm to children that would occur if their racial isolation were increased. Research evidence does not support claims that vouchers advance educational or civil rights. The evidence does, however, establish that racial isolation is harmful to children and to society. Such racial isolation was not acceptable when Freedom of Choice plans were first proposed in the 1960s, and it is no more acceptable today. Whereas the goal 45 years ago was to maintain segregation, the goal today is to forcefully push aside concerns about segregation. Neither goal is consistent with core American values

NEPC Review: Public-Private Virtual-School Partnerships and Federal Flexibility for Schools during COVID-19 (Mercatus Center, March 2020)

A short report from the Mercatus Center argues that, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, education budgets should be reallocated toward investments in virtual schools. It also describes the pandemic as presenting Americans with the opportunity to see the benefits of virtual schooling, which &ldquo;could change education content delivery forever, making instruction more flexible and suited to the needs of each individual student.&rdquo; While this is the first report we have seen that makes this argument, it is unlikely to be the last. While immediate crisis responses may reasonably involve such partnerships, the report&rsquo;s broader call for this response to lead to a long-term shift to virtual schooling is not supported by the report. In fact, this recommendation runs counter to a solid body of evidence documenting the shortcomings of this online approach. The result is an uncompelling plea for policymakers to use this crisis to embrace an educational approach that the author sees as beneficial, notwithstanding the clear evidence of its limitations and problems.</p

Might the New Gates Education Initiative Close Opportunity Gaps?

In this Policy Memo, Kevin Welner considers the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s newest effort, focused on “Networks for School Improvement,” and how the Foundation can learn from its own past initiatives as well as from research evidence more generally

The Lesson of the Cupcakes: Fix Schools by Resisting Gimmicks and Heeding Evidence

This Commentary from NEPC Director Kevin Welner is a version of a piece that was published as part of series called “America the Fixable” at the Atlantic.com. The edits made for the Atlantic.com version change the framing (no cupcakes!) and remove most of the links to research

Lifting All Children Up

What will it take to ensure that all children have an opportunity to learn and to thrive, regardless of their background or which school they attend? The opportunity gaps faced by children arise in their schools and in larger structural inequalities like housing, poverty, parental unemployment, and disinvestment of public resources. These structural problems weigh down students and their schools in ways that do not burden more affluent communities. So what should we as a society do about this added weight? There are two possible solutions. We can counteract the weight — that is, intervening in a serious and sustained way at the school level to increase resources and supports. Past efforts to do this have been shockingly inadequate. The other option is to cut those weights off entirely, through a serious and sustained effort to address the larger inequalities. Neither option is easy, but any just future for our children and communities demands that we act. Horace Mann famously positioned public education as the “balance wheel” of society: able to raise all people up regardless of their background and give them an equal opportunity to succeed. The school-centric reforms start to flesh out what exactly we would need to do to see Mann’s vision come true. The systemic reforms offer solutions that cut closer to the true root of the problems so many children face, dispensing with the need for such a balance wheel. The reforms listed in this infographic are drawn from policy recommendations in an NEPC brief authored by Jennifer King Rice, along with the book Closing the Opportunity Gap by Prudence Carter and Kevin Welner

How to Calculate the Costs or Savings of Tax Credit Voucher Policies

Proposals to create private school voucher systems funded using tax credits are now popping up in states throughout the nation. The fiscal impact of these proposals on those states’ budgets is, given the current squeeze on budgets, of great interest to legislators looking to find savings in every possible nook and cranny. This NEPC Policy Memo explains the factors that should be considered when calculating costs or savings, but it concludes that the most honest and conscientious approach to reporting the fiscal impact of tax credit vouchers is to provide a range of outcomes and let the readers — not the legislative analysts themselves — speculate on which is most likely. If a bottom line is demanded, it should be couched in as many cautions and limitations as can be fit on the page