The Association of Private Enterprise Education recently awarded University of Arkansas faculty member Patrick J. Wolf and alumnus Corey A. DeAngelis with The Journal of Private Enterprise's Best Paper Award. 

The award is given each year to recognize the best academic article published in The Journal of Private Enterprise. It's presented to the authors who "made a significant contribution to the research and literature of free markets."

Wolf and DeAngelis were awarded the honor for their article, "Private School Choice and Character: More Evidence from Milwaukee," which was published in the fall of 2020. The award winners were announced during the organization's 45th Meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April.

Wolf is a Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice in the College of Education and Health Professions. DeAngelis, who received his doctorate from the U of A Department of Education Reform in 2018, is the national director of research at the American Federation for Children.

Their article examined further how the country's oldest private school choice program in Milwaukee has helped shape the character skills necessary for living a good life and contributing to society.

Wolf said their research indicated that low-income students who attended a private high school of their parent's choosing, through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, were less likely to be convicted of certain crimes or cause an out-of-wedlock birth as young adults compared to carefully matched students who attended public high schools in Milwaukee.

The article garnered a flurry of social media shares and news mentions, including an editorial in the Wall Street Journal and an opinion piece by Robert Pondiscio, senior fellow and vice president for external affairs at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.