ethanporcaro/eric-fulltext-meta huggingface dataset:
Spreading Freedom and Saving Money. The Fiscal Impact of the D.C. Voucher Program
Author: Aud, Susan L.
Date: 2006-00-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Charter Schools,Federal Aid,School Choice,Program Effectiveness,Educational Vouchers,Public Education,Cost Effectiveness,Budgeting,Educational Change,Educational Legislation,Educational Finance,Funding Formulas,School Restructuring,Program Budgeting

In August 2004 the first ever federally funded school voucher program began in Washington,  D.C. Eligible students could attend a private school of their choice in the District of Columbia.  Each participant received up to $7,500 for school tuition, fees, and transportation. In addition, the D.C. Public School System (DCPS) and D.C. charter school system each received $13 million in federal grants to improve their programs. This study examines the fiscal impact of the voucher program on DCPS and the District of Columbia. The program is currently funded by the federal government and creates a net inflow of funds to both the District and DCPS. This study also examines the fiscal impact of the program under several proposed changes to the law. Those scenarios include funding the program locally, making it universally available to all D.C. public school students, and expanding capacity by including regional private schools. Among the findings is that the current program saves the city nearly  $8 million, mostly because it is federally funded and includes a federal grant to public schools.  The first section describes the motivation and history behind the D.C. voucher legislation and provides a detailed summary of both the voucher law and D.C. public education funding mechanisms. There follows an examination of the fiscal impact of the voucher program on D.C. educational funding in 2004-05, the first year of the voucher program. Several proposed changes to the program, such as local funding or expansion of the program, are then considered. The paper concludes with a discussion of how to optimize the fiscal impact of the program. (Contains 7 tables and 27 notes.)
Moral Intelligence in the Schools
Author: Clarken, Rodney H.
Date: 2009-03-20
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Ethical Instruction,Altruism,Integrity,Ethics,Multiple Intelligences,Moral Development,Moral Values,Leadership Responsibility,Citizenship Education,Student Characteristics,Cognitive Processes,Affective Behavior,Classification

Moral intelligence is newer and less studied than the more established cognitive, emotional and social intelligences, but has great potential to improve our understanding of learning and behavior. Moral intelligence refers to the ability to apply ethical principles to personal goals, values and actions. The construct of moral intelligence consists of four competencies related to integrity, three to responsibility, two to forgiveness, and one to compassion.  Morally intelligent leaders and teachers in schools will be supporting, respecting and caring, and engendering those qualities in their students. This paper will explore what moral intelligence looks like and how it can be taught to leaders, teachers and children. Its relationship to character and ethical behavior, as well as the other intelligences will be discussed. By developing greater moral intelligence, benefits to the schools and the society will result in organizations that are more positive, improved relationships and students who are both smart and good and value universal human principles and rights.
Iran's Denial of Education to Baha'is
Author: Clarken, Rodney H.
Date: 2009-03-20
Type: Opinion Papers
Subjects: Social Change,Foreign Countries,Public Policy,Access to Education,Social Justice,Social Bias,Religious Cultural Groups,Politics of Education,Islam,Social Discrimination,Equal Education,Homicide,Educational Discrimination

This paper briefly describes the background of the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran, especially the denial of education, and explores what could be done to alleviate this injustice, including enlisting the support of nations, organizations, media and people around the world. Baha'is are the largest religious minority in Iran and have been subjected to systematic genocide by the religious and governmental authorities for over 150 years. With the coming of the Islamic revolution in 1979, religious leaders took the reins of government, the influence of outsiders was limited, and the oppression of the Baha'is increased as a matter of government policy. Though oppression has been and continues to be a part of all societies, it is a mark of a civilized society to proactively limit its pernicious influence and to afford as much as is possible equal rights and opportunities to all its citizens. The persecution of the Baha'is will be compared other instances of genocide, such as the Holocaust, to see what can be learned that might help humanity to establish a more just and humane world.
Grading School Choice: Evaluating School Choice Programs by the Friedman Gold Standard. School Choice Issues in Depth
Author: Enlow, Robert C.
Date: 2008-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,School Choice,Educational Improvement,Educational Indicators,Educational Vouchers,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,School Restructuring,Standards,Benchmarking,Evaluation Criteria,Achievement Gains,Educational Assessment,Charter Schools

In 2004, The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice published a report titled "Grading Vouchers: Ranking America's School Choice Programs." Its purpose was to measure every existing school choice program against the gold standard set by Milton and Rose Friedman: that the most effective way to improve K-12 education and thus ensure a stable democracy is to separate government financing of education from government administration of schools. Government, they argue, should provide funds for every child to receive an education, and the role of government in education should be limited to ensuring that schools meet minimum standards for things such as health and safety. This paper presents a new edition of the "Grading Vouchers: Ranking America's School Choice Programs" report. Given the ever-changing nature of the school choice landscape, the Foundation believes that an updated edition of this report is necessary, as it is critically important to periodically reevaluate existing school choice programs by the Friedman gold standard. A second reason for this new edition of the report is to improve it by refining the Foundation's grading criteria. Thirdly, two new features have been added: Adequate Yearly Progress and Room for Improvement. Finally, the Foundation wants to reaffirm its commitment to the gold standard of educational freedom established by Milton Friedman. (Contains 6 figures.)
The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Georgia. School Choice Issues in the State
Author: Gottlob, Brian
Date: 2008-02-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,Elementary Secondary Education,Tax Credits,School Choice,Educational Finance,Program Effectiveness,Educational Opportunities,State Programs,Funding Formulas,Expenditures,Student Characteristics,School Demography,Participation,Cost Effectiveness,Economic Impact

This study seeks to inform the debate over a proposal in Georgia to give tax credits for contributions to organizations that provide scholarships to K-12 private schools. Such a program would extend to K-12 education the philosophy of choice that is inherent in the state's existing Hope Scholarships program for college students. This study constructs a model to determine the fiscal impact of tax-credit scholarships on the state and on local school districts. In addition to allowing Georgia to expand educational opportunity and improve the equity of its education system, a tax-credit scholarship program would generate large fiscal benefits for local school districts, increasing the available resources for students who remain in public schools. Because much of their revenue does not vary with enrollment, school districts would retain much of the funding associated with students who use scholarships to migrate from public to private schools. The overall impact on public schools would be to increase the financial resources available per student. Depending on how the program is designed, it could also result in a fiscal savings to the state budget. Even if it does not produce a savings at the state level, costs to the state would be significantly reduced because public school spending would go down as students leave with scholarships. (Contains 8 figures, 12 tables, and 25 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, Alliance for School Choice, Georgia Public Policy Foundation, Americans for Prosperity, Black Alliance for Educational Options, and Georgia Family Council.]
The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Missouri. School Choice Issues in the State
Author: Gottlob, Brian J.
Date: 2006-03-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,Taxes,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,Economic Impact,High School Students,Social Services,Institutionalized Persons,Correctional Institutions,School Districts,Enrollment Trends,Competition,State Government,Income,Educational Attainment,Unemployment,Employment Level,Racial Differences,Males,Whites,African Americans,At Risk Students

As a large body of high-quality research has emerged in the past few years showing that school choice benefits the students who use it, much of the debate has shifted to the &quot;public&quot; or &quot;social&quot; effects of school choice. This study examines how school choice in Missouri would raise high school graduation rates, and measures the public benefits that would follow. It documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Missouri, in order to help citizens and policy makers better understand the stakes involved in school reform debates. The author and his colleagues demonstrate how dropouts in Missouri affect overall earned income, state income tax payments, the number of Medicaid beneficiaries and their associated costs, and incarceration costs. They then calculate the current impact of competition from private schools on graduation rates in Missouri public schools, and examine how school choice proposals would increase this competition, raising public school graduation rates and reducing the public costs of dropouts. These calculations do not include the benefits of school choice for individual students who participate, or the benefits it confers directly on affected public schools (such as lower costs and higher revenues). Key findings include: (1) Dropouts are undercounted and costly to the state; (2) Dropouts earn much less than graduates and the state loses significant tax revenues; (3) Dropouts cost the state millions in incarceration and Medicaid costs; and (4) School choice programs improve public schools and save taxpayers millions. (Contains 6 figures, 7 tables, and 23 endnotes.)
Florida's Opinion on K-12 Public Education Spending
Author: Forster, Greg
Date: 2006-01-24
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Public Schools,Employees,Elementary Secondary Education,School Construction,Public Opinion,Public School Teachers,Public Policy,Public Education,Misconceptions,Educational Finance,Budgets,Expenditure per Student,Resource Allocation,Information Sources,Familiarity,Whites,Hispanic Americans,African Americans,Taxes,Federal Government,State Government,Local Government

This scientifically representative poll of 1,200 Floridians finds that public opinion about K-12 public education spending is seriously misinformed. Floridians think public schools need more money, but the main reason is that they are badly mistaken about how much money the public schools actually get. Key findings of the study include: (1) Half of Floridians (50 percent) think Florida spends no more than $4,000 per student on the operating costs of K-12 schools, not including school construction; (2) When asked how much money Florida ought to spend on K-12 schools, half of Floridians (51 percent) said it should spend less than $6,000 per student--below what it currently spends; (3) Respondents who are public school employees (4 percent of the total) were more likely than the general population to say that Florida spends $6,000 or less per student--75 percent of public school teachers chose one of the three responses that underestimate actual spending, compared to 62 percent of all Floridians; (4) Respondents who are public school employees were also more likely to say that Florida ought to spend $6,000 or less per student--59 percent of public school teachers chose one of the three responses recommending a level of spending less than actual spending, compared to 51 percent of all Floridians; (5) Among all Floridians, 36 percent describe themselves as &quot;very familiar&quot; with public education in Florida, another 36 percent describe themselves as &quot;somewhat familiar,&quot; and 28 percent describe themselves as &quot;not at all familiar&quot;; and (6) Floridians are most likely to say that their information on public education comes from newspaper articles (36 percent), having their own child in school (36 percent), television news (27 percent), friends and neighbors (18 percent) and newspaper editorials (14 percent). [This poll was released jointly by the Milton &amp; Rose D. Friedman Foundation, The James Madison Institute, and the Collins Center for Public Policy.]
Segregation Levels in Cleveland Public Schools and the Cleveland Voucher Program. School Choice Issues in the State
Author: Forster, Greg
Date: 2006-08-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,Racial Segregation,School Choice,Racial Composition,Metropolitan Areas,Educational Vouchers,School Segregation,Research Problems,Student Records,Racial Distribution,Statistical Data,Data Analysis,Comparative Analysis

Examining the widespread claims that private schools have high segregation levels and vouchers will lead to greater segregation, this study finds that both assertions are empirically unsupportable. Private schools participating in Cleveland's voucher program are much less segregated than Cleveland's public schools. This means that students using the voucher program are gaining access to a more integrated school experience. The study also examines segregation levels nationwide and finds no substantial difference between public and private schools. While these findings are descriptive rather than causal, they are sufficient to show that the claims made by opponents of voucher programs are without any empirical foundation. Private schools participating in Cleveland's voucher program were 18 points less segregated than Cleveland public schools on the segregation index, which compares  the racial composition of schools to the racial composition of school-age children in the greater metropolitan area. In the nation's 100 largest metro areas, the difference between segregation levels in public and private schools is trivial--less than two points on the segregation index. (Contains 2 tables and 30 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and The Buckeye Institute.]
Freedom from Racial Barriers: The Empirical Evidence on Vouchers and Segregation. School Choice Issues in Depth
Author: Forster, Greg
Date: 2006-10-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,Racial Segregation,School Choice,Educational Vouchers,Barriers,Literature Reviews,Meta Analysis,Evidence,Comparative Analysis,Research Methodology,Research Problems,Racial Composition,Disproportionate Representation

This report collects the results of all available studies using valid empirical methods to compare segregation in public and private schools, both in general and in the context of school voucher programs. Examining the widespread claims that private schools have high segregation levels and vouchers will lead to greater segregation, this report finds that both assertions are empirically unsupportable. The existing empirical research indicates that segregation levels in private schools are not substantially different from those in public schools when examined at the school level; that private schools are actually less segregated than public schools when examined at the classroom level; and that private schools participating in voucher programs in Milwaukee, Cleveland and Washington D.C. are much less segregated than public schools. While these findings are descriptive rather than causal, they are sufficient to show that the claims made by opponents of voucher programs are without any empirical foundation. (Contains 23 endnotes.)
Disruptive Behavior: An Empirical Evaluation of School Misconduct and Market Accountability. School Choice Issues in Depth
Author: Forster, Greg
Date: 2007-06-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,School Choice,Accountability,Crime,Child Abuse,Behavior Problems,Marketing,Teacher Behavior,Databases,School Personnel,Comparative Analysis,Statistical Analysis,State Regulation,Newspapers,Models

Opponents of school choice argue that private schools are not &quot;accountable&quot; because they are not subject to detailed oversight by a regulatory bureaucracy. They claim private school employees can be expected to engage in abusive and criminal behavior more frequently. School choice supporters respond that parents hold private schools accountable through market choices--when parents can choose their children's schools, they can avoid sending their children to schools that don't have adequate safeguards against employee misconduct and can punish the occurrence of misconduct by withdrawing their children from schools where it occurs. These factors create powerful market incentives for private schools to maintain strong safeguards against employee misconduct. Teachers and staff commit misconduct in both public and private schools. Teachers and staff commit misconduct in both public and private schools. The important questions for school choice policy is whether &quot;market accountability&quot; is as effective as &quot;regulatory accountability&quot; in preventing school misconduct. However, despite the urgency of the question, no previous empirical studies have systematically compared misconduct levels in public and private schools. This study uses the Nexis database to measure the frequency of employee misconduct at public and private schools in states that have school choice programs. It finds that cases of school misconduct occur disproportionately in public schools rather than in private schools. The study then applies a statistical test to these data, finding that they provide grounds for confidence that private schools subject to market accountability really are less likely to engage in misconduct than public schools subject to regulatory accountability. (Contains 14 tables and 8 endnotes.)
The High Cost of Failing to Reform Public Education in Texas. School Choice Issues in the State
Author: Gottlob, Brian J.
Date: 2008-01-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Public Schools,Private Schools,Taxes,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,Economic Impact,High School Students,Social Services,Institutionalized Persons,Correctional Institutions,School Districts,Enrollment Trends,Competition,State Government,Income,Educational Attainment,Unemployment,Employment Level,Racial Differences,Males,Whites,African Americans,At Risk Students,Hispanic Americans,Females,Gender Differences,Urban Schools,School Choice

Research has documented a crisis in Texas high school graduation rates. Only 67 percent of Texas students graduate from high school, and some large urban districts have graduation rates of 50 percent or lower. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in Texas and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits by increasing graduation rates in Texas public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in Texas caused by reduced tax revenue, increased Medicaid costs and increased incarceration costs. It then examines how competition from private schools already raises public school graduation rates and calculates the dollar value of the public benefits that would follow from increasing Texas's public school graduation rates by enacting even a modest school choice program. (Contains 8 figures, 10 tables and 28 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, the National Center for Policy Analysis and the Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options.]
The High Cost of Low Graduation Rates in North Carolina. School Choice Issues in the State
Author: Gottlob, Brian J.
Date: 2007-10-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: High Schools,Private Schools,Taxes,Low Income Groups,At Risk Students,Graduation Rate,Dropout Rate,School Choice,Dropouts,Graduation,High School Students,Economic Impact,Social Services,Institutionalized Persons,Crime,Competition,Public Schools,Income,Public Health,Educational Attainment,Unemployment,Racial Differences,African Americans,Whites,Hispanic Americans,Employment Level,Males

North Carolina has a dropout crisis--only two thirds of North Carolina high school students graduate. One reason this crisis has not received the attention it deserves is because the state was reporting badly inflated graduation rates (supposedly as high as 97 percent) until it finally adopted a more realistic reporting method earlier this year. This study documents the public costs of high school dropouts in North Carolina and examines how school choice could provide large public benefits by increasing graduation rates in North Carolina public schools. It calculates the annual cost of high school dropouts in North Carolina caused by lower tax revenue, higher Medicaid costs and higher incarceration costs. It then examines how competition from private schools raises public school graduation rates, and calculates the dollar value of the savings to taxpayers that would follow from increasing North Carolina's public school graduation rates by enacting even a modest school choice program. (Contains 5 figures, 7 tables and 26 endnotes.) [This study was released jointly by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina.]