The Education Gap Vouchers and Urban Schools

by Howell, William G.; Peterson, Paul E.

• ISBN13: 9780815736851
• ISBN10: 0815736851
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-14
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

The voucher debate has been both intense and ideologically polarizing, in good part because so little is known about how voucher programs operate in practice. In The Education Gap, William Howell and Paul Peterson report new findings drawn from the most comprehensive study on vouchers conducted to date. Added to the paperback edition of this groundbreaking volume are the authors' insights into the latest school choice developments in American education, including new voucher initiatives, charter school expansion, and public-school choice under No Child Left Behind. The authors review the significance of state and federal court decisions as well as recent scholarly debates over choice impacts on student performance. In addition, the authors present new findings on which parents choose private schools and the consequences the decision has for their children's education. Updated and expanded, The Education Gap remains an indispensable source of original research on school vouchers."This is the most important book ever written on the subject of vouchers." --John E. Brandl, dean, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota"The Education Gap will provide an important intellectual battleground for the debate over vouchers for years to come." --Alan B. Krueger, Princeton University"Must reading for anyone interested in the battle over vouchers in America." --John Witte, University of Wisconsin

Author Biography

Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard. William G. Howell is an associate professor in the Government Department at Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	xi
Preface to the First Edition	xxi
Acknowledgments	xxvii
1 School Choice and American Democracy	1	(27)
2 Evaluating Voucher Programs	28	(28)
3 Seeking and Using a Voucher	56	(34)
4 Attending Urban Schools	90	(24)
5 Social Consequences	114	(26)
6 The Urban Test Score Gap	140	(28)
7 Satisfaction with Urban Schools	168	(17)
8 Vouchers and Urban Schools	185	(24)
Afterword	209	(12)
Appendixes	221	(34)
Notes	255	(60)
Index	315