Improving Every School: The Competitive Effects of Private School Choice
Overview
One of the most consistent findings in all of school choice research is that broad-based private school choice programs (like education savings accounts (ESAs), voucher programs, or tax credit scholarships) improve student outcomes in nearby traditional public schools.
Despite loud voices in the public debate who forecast that these programs will harm students who remain in traditional public schools, research supports the conclusion that choice programs drive improved outcomes for all students, regardless of school sector. By introducing market dynamics into what can otherwise be a stagnant public-school sector, schools are incentivized to improve their offerings and innovate to remain competitive. Those who oppose choice programs due to fears of public schools falling behind are unsupported by the evidence. To the contrary, a robust choice ecosystem contributes to better outcomes for all students.
Research Literature & Methods
Since the early 2000s, a now substantial body of education research has examined the effects of creating and expanding private school choice programs on the test scores of public-school students. At least thirty studies have examined this question: 27 found positive effects, 1 found no effect, and only 2 contained any negative effect. 1 A team of researchers who conducted a meta-analysis of papers on the competitive effects of school choice stated, “In general, competition resulting from school choice policies does have a small positive effect on student achievement. The lack of an overall negative impact on student outcomes might ease critics’ concerns that competition will hurt those students ‘left behind’ due to school-choice policies.”2
To examine how the introduction of competitive forces affect public school students, researchers typically create a school competition index which includes information like proximity of schools to each other, the percentage of eligible students in nearby public schools, and the density of school options within a given area. Because different schools are subject to varying levels of competition, researchers use this variation in addition to changes in these competitive pressures over time to assess the causal impact of competition on student outcomes.
Arizona – Evidence of Improvements for Rural Students
Opponents of expanding school choice also often cite the potential harms and lack of benefits for students in rural areas where private schools are more scarce. However, education can happen beyond the walls of a traditional brick and mortar school. States like Florida and Arizona – both of which now have universal ESA programs – have booming microschool and home education sectors. Enabled by expanded choice, these options are available to parents in rural areas.
Has a choice-rich landscape in Arizona benefited its rural students? Preliminary evidence points to yes. In an analysis of growth in test scores on the NAEP – the nation’s report card – rural public- school students in Arizona grew more (or declined less) on every test than the average rural student across the country from 2007 to 2022. 3 During this time period, Arizona greatly expanded choice by creating and expanding robust charter and private school choice policies.
Florida: Beyond Test Scores - Impacts on Suspension and Attendance
In a study recently published in a top economics journal, researchers examined academic and behavioral outcomes for some 1.2 million students who attended public schools during the first sixteen years of private school choice expansion in Florida. 4 Their research found that, as the programs scaled up, outcomes improved for public-school students. More specifically, students who attended schools facing more competitive pressure from local private schools experienced higher test scores, lower rates of suspension, and fewer absences. These effects were even larger for students from low-income backgrounds. 5
1 https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/123s-of-School-Choice-WEB.pdf
2 Huriya Jabbar, Carlton J. Fong, Emily Germain, Dongmei Li, Joanna Sanchez, WeiLing Sun, and Michelle Devall (2019), The competitive effects of school choice on student achievement: A systematic review, Educational Policy, 36(2), pp. 1-35, https:// doi.org/10.1177/0895904819874756
3 https://www.heritage.org/education/report/rustic-renaissance-education-choice-rural-america
4 https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20210710
5 https://www.educationnext.org/ripple-effect-how-private-school-choice-programs-boost-competition-benefit-public-school- students/