School Choice and School Productivity (or Could School Choice be a Tide that Lifts All Boats?)

Caroline Hoxby

No 8873, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: A school that is more productive is one that produces higher achievement in its pupils for each dollar it spends. In this paper, I comprehensively review how school choice might affect productivity. I begin by describing the importance of school productivity, then explain the economic logic that suggests that choice will affect productivity, and finish by presenting much of the available evidence on school choice and school productivity. The most intriguing evidence comes from three important, recent choice reforms: vouchers in Milwaukee, charter schools in Michigan, and charter schools in Arizona. I show that public school students' achievement rose significantly and rapidly in response to competition, under each of the three reforms. Public school spending was unaffected, so the productivity of public schools rose, dramatically in the case in Milwaukee.

JEL-codes: H0 I2 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pbe and nep-pke
Note: CH LE PE ED
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (68)

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Chapter: School Choice and School Productivity. Could School Choice Be a Tide that Lifts All Boats? (2003)
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