University of Arkansas Professor Contributes to Brookings Report on School Choice Recommendations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A report by a task force that included a University of Arkansas professor could influence Congress as it reauthorizes the No Child Left Behind Act.

The report offered three primary recommendations for expanding school choice, said Jay P. Greene, a professor of education reform. Greene attended a briefing for congressional staffers and U.S. Department of Education officials Feb. 2 in Washington in which the report, “Expanding Choice in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Report on Rethinking the Federal Role in Education,” was unveiled.

The aim of the report is to “increase equity and create a market within the public sector for school quality,” according to the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based nonprofit policy organization that convened the seven-member task force. Other members represented Columbia University, Duke University, Harvard University and Brookings. Initially called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, No Child Left Behind was approved by Congress in 2002. It is the main federal law affecting education from kindergarten through high school; and, according to the U.S. Department of Education Web site, is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.

“The ideas that we suggest fit well with some of the things that (Secretary of Education) Arne Duncan has been saying,” Greene said. “Overall, the idea of school choice is broadly supported. In the last presidential election, both candidates embraced school choice, which is basically the idea that parents should have influence over where their children go to school. Now, it’s a matter of structure, haggling over the details.

“This report steps back from the arguments about various kinds of school choice,” he continued. “The information offered in the report is intended to provide a more efficient structure for school choice, to make it a free market, not a free-for-all.”

The report’s three primary recommendations:

• Improve access to information for parents, the consumers, about the extent of school choice options and their quality.
  “We thought about school choice very broadly,” Greene explained. “We included magnet schools, intra-district transfers, distance learning, home-schooling and choice of school when selecting the family residence. We suggested that the federal government should take a role in providing information to parents about how many choices they have and how good those choices are.”

• Offer financial incentives for school choice in areas where there are few options or the schools of choice are not performing well.
  “This is consistent with Secretary Duncan’s support of changing the formula by which federal aid is awarded,” Greene said. “Currently, the federal government gives money to schools based on the number of students. The new model is based on competition in which schools that pledge to pursue different types of reform would earn grants, like the Race to the Top stimulus program. The administration is considering greatly expanding the amount of money given to schools on a competitive basis, rather than the formula being used now, and we support that idea in this report. Districts respond to the chance to receive more money.”

• Create an accreditation system for virtual education providers.
  “Virtual, or distance, education is the most promising avenue under current constraints for expanding school choice,” Greene said. “Traditional school districts can add virtual education without constructing new facilities. Virtual education is characterized both by low cost and high levels of innovation. We suggest an accreditation system to facilitate greater use of virtual education.”

An accreditation system would pressure states and localities to accept accredited providers in their area, thus increasing the amount of high-quality school choice available, he said.