ERIC Number: EJ1049889
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0146-9283
EISSN: N/A
Revisiting the Role of Vouchers and Charter Schools in the Educational Market Place
Sweetland, Scott R.
Educational Considerations, v41 n2 p46-50 Spr 2014
It is a long held belief that Vouchers and charter schools are among the most recognized buzzwords in today's education marketplace. Advocates assert that the quality of education will improve if consumers (i.e., parents) have greater access to schooling alternatives. Along with this assertion is the implied belief that costs of education will decrease and the quality of education will rise because all schools, traditional and alternative, private and public, will compete for pupils. Schools that cannot effectively compete will wither and eventually close. Charter schools, freed from many of the state regulations required of traditional public schools, were to serve as laboratories of innovation that once transferred to public schools would lead to improvements for all students. Vouchers were implemented to provide greater access to a high quality education, particularly for children from low income families. This article asks the following: (1) Do children from low income families have access to enhanced educational opportunities through vouchers today; and (2) Have vouchers and charter schools led to schooling experiences superior to those provided by traditional public schools? After pointing toward Ohio, as a state replete with alternative schooling opportunities, and a place where education entrepreneurs have been welcomed for many years, author Scott Sweetland concludes that the panacea of educational improvement via choice and competition simply was not delivered.
Descriptors: Charter Schools, Educational Vouchers, Educational Opportunities, Access to Education, Low Income Groups, Educational Experience, Educational Quality, Educational Improvement, Competition, School Choice, School Effectiveness, Enrollment Trends, Educational Assessment, Educational Indicators, Elementary Secondary Education
Kansas State University, College of Education. 1100 Mid-Campus Drive, 006 Bluemont Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506. Tel: 785-532-5525; Fax: 785-532-7304; e-mail: edcoll@ksu.edu; Web site: http://coe.ksu.edu/EdConsiderations
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ohio
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A