Author: David W. Kirkpatrick

Publisher: Loyola Press

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13:

The educational reform movement produced only incremental improvements in student achievement, prompting a need for greater focus on structural and cultural aspects of school organization. Parental choice is the necessary element for successful school reform in the future. The public educational system that has evolved in America is widely perceived to be a failure: Efforts to assist low-income families and students have largely failed, and academic performance has not benefitted from present priorities. An examination of the history of public schooling and various alternatives, the consequences of court decisions regarding public and private schooling, and the results of multiple surveys suggests that a school voucher system would foster decentralization and accountability, extend opportunities to low-income families, and give parents a reason to support continued funding of education. These conclusions are supported by the few pilot projects that have been attempted, such as in the Alum Rock School District in California. Attempts to implement voucher systems will likely be opposed by vested interests, including teacher's unions, school boards, and state and federal bureaucracies. Because of growing social unrest, dissatisfaction with the present system, and the trend toward privatization of government functions, the movement toward educational choice, with or without vouchers, seems to be building momentum. (TEJ)