University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2012 From No Choice to Forced Choice to School Choice: A History of Educational Options in Milwaukee Public Schools James Kenneth Nelsen University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Other Education Commons, and the Other History Commons Recommended Citation Nelsen, James Kenneth, "From No Choice to Forced Choice to School Choice: A History of Educational Options in Milwaukee Public Schools" (2012). Theses and Dissertations. 12. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/12 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. FROM NO CHOICE TO FORCED CHOICE TO SCHOOL CHOICE: A HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS IN MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS by James K. Nelsen A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee December 2012 ABSTRACT FROM NO CHOICE TO FORCED CHOICE TO SCHOOL CHOICE: A HISTORY OF EDUCATIONAL OPTIONS IN MILWAUKEE PUBLIC SCHOOLS by James K. Nelsen The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, 2012 Under the Supervision of Dr. Amanda I. Seligman Americans cherish freedom and value local control of education. The issue of “school choice,” a movement that supports publicly funded tuition vouchers for students who attend private schools, appeared on the public agenda in the 1980s and has remained a controversial topic into the twenty-first century.