Do self-interested schooling selections improve society? A review of the evidence

ABSTRACT

I review the literature that quantifies the effects of private school choice programs on three important civic outcomes for students in the United States: tolerance, civic engagement, and social order. Out of the 11 studies on private school choice that examine these civic outcomes, the impacts are null to positive for tolerance, null to positive for civic engagement, and positive for social order. None of the studies indicates that private school choice negatively affects these vital civic outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Citizenship education
• civic values
• private school
• school choice

Notes

^1. https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/.

^2. The D.C. WSF and the CSF were privately funded K-12 scholarship programs. The CSF still operates nationally. The WSF was replaced by the publicly funded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program incrementally from 2004 to 2010.