HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Program on

Annual Report EducationEducation PPolicyolicy 2005 & GGovernanceovernance Program on Education Policy & Governance

Director: Paul E. Peterson, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government, Harvard University

Deputy Director: William Howell, Associate Professor of Government, Harvard University

Advisory Committee: Bruce Kovner, Chair, Caxton Corporation Cory Booker, Booker, Rabinowitz Bob Boruch, University of Pennsylvania John Brandl, University of Minnesota Peter Flanigan, UBS AG Investor Relations C. Boyden Gray, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Phil Handy, Florida Board of Education Roger Hertog, Alliance Capital Management Gisele Huff, Jaquelin Hume Foundation Lisa Graham Keegan, The Keegan Company Deborah McGriff, Edison Schools Terry Moe, Hoover Institution and the Department of Political Science, Stanford University Lawrence Patrick III, Black Alliance for Educational Options Jerry Rappaport, J. L. Rappaport Charitable Foundation

Faculty Affiliates: Caroline Minter Hoxby, Professor of Economics, Harvard University Brian Jacob, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University Christopher Jencks, Professor of Social Policy, Harvard University Richard Light, Professor of Education, Harvard University Donald Rubin, Professor of Statistics, Harvard University

Staff: Antonio Wendland, Associate Director Rajashri Chakrabarti, Postdoctoral Fellow Martin R. West, Program Fellow Carol Peterson, Managing Editor, Education next Mark Linnen, Staff Assistant

Research Affiliates: Christopher Berry, Assistant Professor, Harris School, University of Chicago David Campbell, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Notre Dame Roland Fryer, Junior Fellow, Harvard Society of Fellows, Harvard University Jay Greene, Senior Fellow, Center for Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute Frederick Hess, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute Ludger Wößmann, Institute for Economic Research, Munich, Germany Patrick Wolf, Associate Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown Public Policy Institute

Project Funders and Contributors: The Achelis Foundation The Bodman Foundation Lynde & Harry Bradley Foundation The Annie E. Casey Foundation Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education Kern Family Foundation John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. Smart Foundation The Walton Family Foundation, Inc.

Address: Program on Education Policy & Governance (PEPG) John F. Kennedy School of Government Harvard University Taubman 304 79 John F. Kennedy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: (617) 495-7976 Fax: (617) 496-4428 Email : [email protected] Web: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/ http://www.educationnext.org/

PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE A Word from the Director

N ine years since its founding, the Program on Education Always a matter of importance Policy & Governance (PEPG) continues to attend to items to the PEPG research agenda, central to the nation’s education agenda. Three reform strate- we continue to explore the gies dominate public discourse — adequate funding, account- promise — and pitfalls — of ability, and choice. this, the most far-reaching, of Pushing the first of these, teacher unions are funding law- all school reforms. suits in a majority of the states that are demanding higher, Through its major publica- allegedly “adequate,” funding levels, a development of such tion vehicle, Education next, a journal sponsored jointly by Three reform strategies dominate public discourse — several reform-minded enti- adequate funding, accountability, and choice. ties, PEPG is reaching a large, growing audience. rising significance that it has become the focus of the We appreciate the support of all those who have made October 2005 PEPG research conference. possible the work summarized in the pages that follow. Meanwhile, the new federal law, No Child Left Behind, is asking schools to make “adequate yearly progress”’ toward — Paul E. Peterson state-determined proficiency standards. When progress falls short, families are given a choice of an alternative public school within the same school district, a quite limited option. Whether such limited choice can moti- vate school improvement is the subject of a major new PEPG research undertaking. At the grassroots, broader forms of school choice — charters and vouchers — continue to spread across the countryside, albeit more slowly than proponents desire.

Inside

50 Years after Brown ...... 2

Advisory Committee...... 4

Center on School Choice ...... 5

Schools in the Global Economy ...... 6

Education next: A Journal of Opinion and Research...... 8

Unfunded Mandate? ...... 10

Upcoming Conference ...... 11

New Books and Research Papers ...... 12

Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Associates ...... 14

The School Choice Debate ...... 16

ANNUAL REPORT 1 50 Years after Brown: What Remains to Be Done?

The Program on Education Policy & Governance hosted a found that accountability has a positive impact on states conference, “50 Years after Brown: What Remains to Be that attach “consequences to performance.” They showed Done?” on April 23–24, 2004, at Harvard University’s that both blacks and Hispanics have lower gains relative )

Kennedy School of Government. Prominent lawyers, legal s to whites on each of the tests, and concluded that n o scholars, specialists in public policy, political scientists, i White-Blackt Differences in NAEP Scores, 17-year-olds a and economists gathered together to discuss various i v

e 1.50

issues relating to the achievement gap between races. d d

The then U.S. Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, r

a 1.25 opened the conference and three other former members d n Science a of the U.S. cabinet — Secretary of Transportation t s 1.00 Mathematics (

William Coleman; Secretary of Agriculture Daniel s e

Glickman; and Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence c .75 Reading n e

Summers — participated in the presentations and dis- r e

f .5 f

cussions. The presentations related to a wide spectrum i of topics ranging from policy measures that could tar- D e .25 r get the achievement gap to the legal challenges to these o c measures. S 0 There is evidence that while the black-white test 1970 1975 1980 19851990 1995 Year score gap shrank considerably in the seventies and eighties, the gap opened up in the nineties. But the conference discussions showed considerable promise that accountability by itself cannot close the achievement gap. the gap can be closed within a generation. Participants The papers from the conference are to be published in agreed that pre-school education, school desegregation, a volume edited by Paul Peterson entitled Generational student accountability, and parental choice can go a long Change: Closing the Test Score Gap, Rowman and Littlefield way to close the gap. Publishers, Inc. In a paper presented at the conference, Derek Neal of the University of Chicago cited a dramatic increase in incarceration among black men, black-white differences in family resources such as income, parental education, and time devoted to children as possible causes of the gap. He suggested that vouchers hold some promise in narrowing the gap since previous research suggests that economically disadvantaged black students in inner-city public schools gain the most from access to private schools. The role of accountability in raising student achieve- ment in general, and the black-white achievement gap in particular, was also debated. Stanford University researchers Eric Hanushek and Margaret Raymond

Margaret Raymond, Eric Hanushek, Jane Wilensky, and Ronald Ferguson

2 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE 50 Years after Brown

The black-white test score gap shrank considerably in the eighties, the gap opened up in the nineties.

Pre-school education, school desegregation, student accountability, and parental choice can go a long way to close the gap.

Harvard President Lawrence Summers Paul Peterson with Secretary Rod Paige and Secretary William Coleman addressing conference participants Secretary Daniel Glickman

ANNUAL REPORT 3 Advisory Committee Exchanging Ideas

The PEPG Advisory Committee has continued to meet on a yearly basis since it was formed in 2002 to discuss emerging issues in American education and the most useful Bruce Kovner with John Brandl ways in which PEPG may contribute to its reform. In October 2003, the committee met in conjunction with the School Boards conference events at Two committee Harvard. In November of 2004, the members were the committee convened at the Harvard Club of New York. recipients of the Several new members have prestigious joined the committee, including: Thomas B. Fordham Bob Boruch, faculty member of the Department of Education at Prize for Excellence the University of Pennsylvania; Lawrence Patrick III Terry Moe in Education. Phil Handy, chairman of the Florida Board of Education; Deborah McGriff, chief communications officer for Edison Schools; Terry Moe, chair of the Department of Political Science, Stanford University; and Lawrence Patrick III, president and CEO of the Black Alliance for Educational Options. Two committee members were the recipients of the presti- gious Thomas B. Fordham Prize for Excellence in Education. Terry Moe, dubbed “Godfather of the School Choice Lisa Graham Keegan and Jeanne Allen Movement,” won the 2005 prize for Distinguished Scholarship. John Brandl, the “unorthodox Democrat,” was the co-recipient of the 2005 prize for Valor, given to leaders who had made major contributions to education reform.

Joseph Viteritti and Jerry Rappaport

4 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Center on School Choice First Federally Funded Research Center on School Choice

PEPG, along with other leading institutions, will establish the federally funded Center on School Choice, Competition and PEPG, along with other Achievement. Other participating institutions include the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University, the leading institutions, Brookings Institution, the National Bureau of Economic will establish the Research, the Northwest Evaluation Association, and the Stanford University School of Education. federally funded Center The center will receive a $10 million, five-year grant from on School Choice, the Institute of Education Sciences, which is the main research component of the U.S. Department of Education. Competition and After a widely publicized nationwide competition, Achievement. the grant was announced in September 2004. Under the grant’s terms, PEPG will examine the impacts of school vouchers on public schools, the effects of private schools and charter schools on student achievement, and the effects of school accountability systems on political competition within school districts. A multidisciplinary team from the co-operating institutions, including political scientists, economists, sociologists, psychologists, curricu- lum experts, psychometricians, statisticians, public finance analysts, and legal scholars, will investigate these issues.

ANNUAL REPORT 5 Schools in the Global Economy

PEPG organized a conference, “Schooling and Human policy interventions, such as class size reduction, extra Capital Formation in the Global Economy,” September resources for personnel, extra resources for computers, 3–4, 2004, jointly with the CESifo, a Munich-based lowering the school attendance age, and increasing the research center. The conference brought together renowned compulsory school leaving age, on student achievement. scholars from the United States and Europe and, by inspir- Focusing on the Netherlands, he concluded that lowering ing spirited discussions and communication between them, the compulsory school attendance age is the only inter- succeeded in building bridges across nations and schools of vention that produced significant results. He suggested thought. The presentations covered a wide range of topics, that notable positive effects for the other interventions including individual and aggregate returns to human capi- can be ruled out. The papers from the conference are to tal, equality of educational investments, intergenerational be published in a volume edited by Ludger Wößmann mobility, peer-group effects, tracking of students into dif- and Paul Peterson. ferent educational programs, equality-focused interven- tions, school choice, and accountability. There has not been much evidence as to whether educational opportunities for children coming from different family backgrounds are similar across coun- tries. Ludger Wößmann of the Ifo Institute for Economic Research, Munich, presented new evi- dence on this issue for children in the Western European countries and the United States. Using comparable student achievement data across coun- tries, he showed that equality of educational oppor- tunity in the United States was remarkably similar to that in Western Europe. However, there are important variations across countries in Western Europe. While France and Flemish Belgium are the most equitable, Britain and Germany are the least. His findings also suggest that equal opportunities for students from different family backgrounds do not require a lowering of average performance. The effectiveness of different human capital poli- cies targeted to disadvantaged groups was also debat- ed at the conference. In this context, Hessel Oosterbeek presented results on the effects of various

Conference Participants

6 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Schools in the Global Economy

The conference brought together renowned scholars from the United States and Europe and, by inspiring spirited discussions and communication between them, succeeded in building bridges across nations and schools of thought.

Ludger Wößmann Hessel Oosterbeek and John Bishop

ANNUAL REPORT 7 Education next A Journal of Opinion and Research

The PEPG journal Education next recently celebrated its fourth year of publication. Education next analyzes and influences develop- ments in K–12 education reform and provides a solid private, and charter schools. Education next articles have platform to present facts, research, sound ideas, responsi- received a considerable amount of press interest. The ble arguments, and valuable policy analyses. The journal journal’s stories have been covered in The New York continues to attract a sizable audience, including thou- Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, USA Today, sands of researchers; policymakers in state governments Christian Science Monitor, The Herald-Dispatch, and the and in the federal government; and educators in public, Oakland Tribune.

Media Coverage Some Highlights

An article by James Peyser and Robert Costrell on the true A careful “check the facts” article by Michael Podgursky of costs of “No Child Left Behind” has received widespread the University of Missouri on the annual reports of teachers’ attention. Their research has been cited by President salaries released by the NEA and AFT was widely cited by George W. Bush, by then Secretary of Education Rod the press. In this article Podgursky found that teachers work Paige, and by major newspapers and periodicals such as 30% fewer days than people from many other professions The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Education Week, and they typically have a shorter workday. After adjusting and the Weekly Standard. Peyser and Costrell’s study for the shorter work year and workday, he found that only showed that NCLB is not an unfunded mandate — there engineers, architects and surveyors in private practice, and is enough funding to successfully implement NCLB. attorneys earn more than teachers on an hourly basis.

8 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Education next A Journal of Opinion and Research

The Education next website currently receives 12 million hits a year.

The journal’s stories have been covered in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN Money, USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, The Herald-Dispatch, and the Oakland Tribune.

Circulation, Subscriptions, and Distribution Education next is available by subscription and An article by William Damon on the role of schools in character education of children has been picked up by Fox at bookstores all across the United States. News, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the North Carolina Both subscriptions and bookstore sales of News and Observer, and the Scripps Howard News Service. Education next have been growing steadily. In this article, Damon argues that the choices and actions The number of stores receiving the journal of schools leave indelible marks on the students and shape has increased to around 600 and bookstore their characters. Therefore public schools should strive to sales have now increased by over 200 %. do their best in guiding students and in helping them to The journal is carried by the Gale Group distinguish right from wrong. and by H. W. Wilson, the electronic database used by libraries and booksellers, in addition to a few other library buying services. An increasing number of individuals uses and downloads articles from the journal’s website (http://www.educationnext.org/). The site’s current usage rate is 12 million hits a year, with close to one million visits annually. These numbers rose by over 50% in 2004.

ANNUAL REPORT 9 Unfunded Mandate? AL RN U — o , to ext O ons e n ni th J rs u ng i che cat be ney tea edu ld mo T d to cou ir an e ted ers l th E ls — it pay al ily o m ax re ad cho om , t he ste E c s n c ot g w ed l- li e n n b o be ? If eri im d d R ng on nd s cl ste red lo ti o a ju e r era r w h ad ov T no en fo ols n- 0 h at. g o o ter, d sed ch ati 197 th S ar gne cu n s nfl in ice ler, C i x o i w l r or , s d e . g In pil r t ma e N , n gan che y ent din es. pu ve e s Lt SO on ea rea ver w en ad er is o ar r a s R e p c p t es e ER hn of hat ly S de res , i ass los on LL T Jo ng s t ual r- ree tu day cl n c ati E er i ll t o h di o y, e ns - h . P ith oth bi vir uth r t en : T ne giv pe liv Ac E Ne n ion ed, s a fo xp 00 mo re om of a L y t t e 0 a e U re. sa ria de w i he rs, 5, tra ds r c ost lts T PA itu to op . In lo t t to la d $ ex ee che e c su W, d d n, pr it be ep ns un he l n tea th t re al t an to ap im ed cc tio ro l t cia e h n on s T - lin n d l nd o a ria t a al pe ag wit ece ati ir ES fili C atio ize fu ts t op ici ith h s ver ce t r uc y EF W 8 af uc hor is ur pr def d W it d a pa os Ed da . A1 its ed ut am co l ap al yon e w an pt e m of to e R e on, is- ir a gr he al der be hos n, ke th nt ter e Hu IN ag ati l d he pro re t pel fe els t tio an to me bet , th T P ci o t l e e v n h g s s e S AR ; so cho ing ra W om th le tte e t in ses no ord ittl T M 05 As f s lleg ede el. d c its, to st a or ord As re w e l 20 n o a f v n n o m c al co er rn By , tio ag uit le a lim loo m as ac on s s th bo 28 uca agb ws an zed laim ed al the h Yet ati old o as o il Ed a r l la ) is ts i c riz ly b of the g. N ar- . In s h al N s. pr al nd era LB lain EA tho ate n ty, ed in the -ye 70 re nd res A ion , a fed C p N au di tio ili iat m 17 19 itu sca dd at tes a (N com al me ina dib opr es fro s, in end e o a e N sta led ind ’s rs equ im ag n. cre pr iti res id xp s th g t Th 10 t fi eh EA use yea ld im sia of ap ctiv rog y d l e t i tin in jus ft B e N eca 40 ou est ne a ey a P the rea ha mp o tes ve Le th ’s b ir w ild ey atin on ew d n of t. T tte es: ft t g a ha ild . If , it re — the e w d K p t m e n an tha ng rui s a ci le gin cts h ate iar fo id of th she e a ha th ng , bli l f d i ien s is rag tri o C nd mil be s d nts ba uir s t of ni ng ou na in efic re d tes t N ma fa em ist me l na cq aim sts sig adi ol d tio eh d atu are sta ha ed gly th ion ire era u o a cl co de re cho uca ft B its fe ch ck n t nd tin ard gat equ fed T lso the ely in g s ls ed Le has key hi sti ca nfu aun he gre n r ng it a er am sts rin oo ild w of f w ing nce u h ave se tio eri su cov , n e te ffe sch h e la on y o ur a nd s h ern ega off law ot red id s o to e C h ati an eas orm s in sou an th egr w m- n ui tew ll a es nc e T nt , m m erf nt ric Sou es l la co oes req sta we vic ma sid me cts nt ’ p are d. me n e d ina cts n, d re g as ser for ut ple tri blu ols o p ite d- A he th rig tri he t a rin e, al per r o f Im dis e ho t lim o o, w ade ’s o dis e. T r tha iste nc ent of the o ol Th sc ven in a m ag ev on ol at ve in scie m rt o one ho ls. uge gi a ith to hns ho and co dm d ple ho and is e, sc hee ga ces rem w as est Jo n. t sc m not s. a an up ll s O g wid ir to oi ls ed y h l b on atio an ed id ool th d s fa A stin on u- the se Ch oo fix all nta nd uc itr nd d ch im ma an tly e G te ati st t u d. sch be ric me Ly ed alc fu ars ir s cla ice ten th n, N er us ove ng an isto rn ov for rec un oll he o ho sis as ow on. 9 p - m pr mi s c h ve pr id n, an e d g t wh w, c er ut sh ati s $ ur im for em hat rgo im a he ut th tin se No at p . B lso uc a ts c i- be er bl ll t nte to n T bo at ga tho s. th rds e a ed low tes est erp pro wi r i rts va d a th gre m yee lly da av in as of nt nd se od ou ffo sad ine ted ese fro plo efu tan rs h ins n e de u ho go of e di sh la jec f d es m wo s ve ga e ru typ en ess t t he rk ing ost to p ob t o m l e is ser bar av he dep o l Bu f t ma oin m ks ey os co hoo ce ob st s h r t in e t i- o all f j he see th ll c nce -sc tan e be ate , fo all om ox cum e h d o p t A fu sta lic sis th he im ge rly c ppr ing i th tea hel NE the esi ub re ith t est era ea ing e a be en ns to e r , r t p the w ed st av d n test th tly alf be . I ed , th ou ow sen n, ng nd or co on an of of en e h tem gn ns of N re the wro fu , n t, d, ts ut urr on ell sys esi rica est r rep as gs un ate den use cos t o t c te w d e edi ou to ch in an nd l ly e en en evo ow , law Am ne of u . th is ma era ent f th tud tud d t h er a of he sue te s m ed two LB a en r s o r s r s To ou eov ed g t is in a uid re C her G ate ate pe pe n. ab or tag tin hts ted isg e a t N eit san nd m 50 00 atio on . M n. ca rig sis g s m er tha s n rti ma es $ 0,0 uc ati nt an ow edu il re on Th m i pa he vid han $1 ed rm spe th e, d et civ ho wr lai law on d t ro t ly eir fo ll re ag Y he s w he n ’s c he e n sse y p ve ate th in we mo ver s t er t her EA : T Th mi nl cei l- m on ain ey he n a ain ern on ut N ate d. dis w o re do nt obt on f t , o em uth ves So l b “There are nd de ce la to the pe to s m e o tes r So sel ost wil ma fun ffi he ish ct m s g i har sta ing he em m It un O r. T t w eje the 1% in s at tor T th ly, t. er it ing be ha o r y of do ken th tu den nd ate ou ach is unt cto es t ts t pan t e is to ent nd ur e fou tun his te co O tat an m ye on t a ud s. e a al b th or d t hen Ac last e s t w cco has nd bu r st fed oic isc m . F ure w m os ha t a te rou . is pe e ch a f fro ss ry fig ren two things lai th te t tha sta -g and it 0 th ’s of ata t le ve ild sso c s to sta es no the f h ,00 om law ch d ha ha ch h a nd y rul at n- t o $1 fr he u test te t en all arc fu An he Th n o ou s ive e t g m la ica tak or ese P m. d t o. s a nt thi ece ar in he nd ve f ll. a r tion he an o s ide lai in r or lac . T n i ha we is ca t d rov p nta on- N s p cts tio ts end as est du h M rs — to p com co c vi- ion stri ca den att f W n E hic wrong with the la free ute he es l be di vis di du stu to s o r. o f w is ro g t do al sub y ro ol f E le ty ost r M ram , o sso — his tin aw t sh y an p cho t o gib ni e c fa og ce ofe n t jec e l Ac an ur s en eli rtu th e so Pr nan Pr ke re th is or inc on tm all po ile av ver ck ta for ng, th ate or par of op wh s h rs. o ttu is di in St ds De the l, on lla to G ha bas fun ing e a un 1% of oo pti do n e S s a NEA’s claim or th dat y f ct.” its an e sch g o ral ow e Le or. thi s f No an an A of th tag lic in de s d or ect or A : “ m nd his rt gu- an ub tor Fe ow m ir L f sj.c use … pe r t hea ar - adv r p tu by arr eed d R e.w cla to o s de e ree pro he lar ull n s n d U lin ed f t un t th th ap not pu n f im ol e ire on 00 tru reo for e a up al . a po d i cla cho tim qu p:// 9, s the id us rs ion zed re re al t s is re d htt 924 that NCLB n pa cla ffe ess ori mo ove leg tha , th y is ne 41 sio ot his o gr th n c A’s t ne ne mi 43 s n g t EA con au tio d- een E en do o ter 9 ost in N ys nts ca en b o N um ob re m -de an- c lac the sa ou edu sp S arg e j o ate st w P t, iest am to en ays ed t th t m st the ho lain ill of id wh r, s tir ge tha to ce ly, - p e s rt l a 5, be n he to ay up in ual ub is an unfunded com Th sho era 00 um llio t ey o s ts t s id t p ts. ll fed n 2 n bi on d t den Bu div no en s fa at h i hat .5 m se tu ds. in ave m on th ig . T 20 hra ll s ar ate h ati nd ic h on e $ rep g a and st nd pri mi tor illi f th . to rin st ach ? A er his 7 b t o 02 ts o b ncy y e ate ev a 2. or 20 mp al t cie t b nd mandate. The law is N ed $1 s sh in tte ur ofi se ma ach ed all zed t a ect - pr are al re ach ll f ori en hit res ds der re sti th um arc ng on ar fe ing A, au arg an co ni d is a NE en ng r, for d u th e be di loo m an a- is th ad slea a f oo rs riz neither a mandate nor t h mi to o r ake ho n- tha is in e n m aut pe Th ing eav law al ex eil d l all ion — a c ul As ess pel rn wo n. gr m tu at tio con co t th cre w, not is it unfunded.” fea dis no o al ll k y d ion we the s rs — ade it le lim ns tio

10 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Upcoming Conference Adequacy Lawsuits: Their Growing Impact on American Education The adequacy lawsuit is changing the financing of October 12–14, 2005 On the campus of the American education. Is this legal Kennedy School of Government, intervention a good thing? Harvard University Political scientists, legal analysts, economists, and other scholars address this issue at a major PEPG-sponsored conference.

ve n- it hut Public school expenditures have seen a steep increase between between districts, the impact on achievement disparities has

ng 1970 and 2000; however, there is little evidence of achieve- been substantially less. This calls for a critical assessment of you e. tim ment gains of students during this period. In fact, high the role of the adequacy movement in garnering improve- on ati to- egr his school graduation rates have been falling since 1990. As ment in student achievement and, more specifically, in reduc- of ide s s nor ver ayremedies, several reform proposals have been proposed and ing disparities and inadequacies in American education. go t d rea so a g dodebated. A reform strategy that has been slowly but steadily The conference will address issues relating to the adequacy be ns nio rs u ’s gainingard ground is the adequacy movement. Adequacy claims movement that the existing literature largely overlooks: the arv t H te a have been filed in 29 states since 1989. Based upon evidence origins of the education clauses in state constitutions, the cia nry o and e cy n, H oli rso from, is student test scores generated by state and federal assumptions about the impact of increased spending implicit ete ent r. P rnm M ove accountability systems, plaintiffs in such cases argue that in adequacy claims, the appropriate role of state courts in of G 8 or 87 schools465 are failing to provide “thorough and efficient” educa- matters of education policy, and, most importantly, the 111 e: ,,SB ticl e/0 tion required by state constitutions. Consequently, they ask impact of an increase in state aid resulting from adequacy r ticl /ar com the courts to mandate substantial increases in state educa- lawsuits on student outcomes. tml .h tional spending. Plaintiffs have already won in 24 such cases. To address these very important issues, PEPG has With cases pending in several states and the federal No Child solicited essays from political scientists, legal analysts, Left Behind law focusing attention on disparities in student economists, historians, education researchers, and other achievement, the adequacy lawsuits are sure to get more and scholars. The papers will use a variety of research designs, more prominence. including careful case studies, thorough historical analyses, However, scholarly attention to adequacy lawsuits has and rigorous quantitative research. Moreover, in this con- been very limited. Whatever little evidence there is suggests ference, PEPG plans to bring together participants in sev- that although school finance reforms in various states have eral recent adequacy lawsuits with wide-ranging views on succeeded in dramatically reducing spending disparities the topic of adequacy reform.

ANNUAL REPORT 11 place the visions and prerogatives of Besieged: school board members everywhere. School Boards and the In 1920, public elementary and sec- ondary schools relied on local govern- Future of Education Politics ments for 83 percent of their funds, state William Howell, ed. (Brookings, 2005) governments for 17 percent, and the fed- eral government for less than 1 percent. By 2000, local revenues constituted just 43 The point of the book is very well brought out in the percent of total expenditures, while the following excerpts from School Boards Besieged by state and federal governments kicked in for William Howell, 50 percent and 7 percent respectively. Education Week, Accompanying these funds are increasing March 9, 2005: numbers of regulations affecting what schools teach, how their After 32 years of teaching contracts are written, who is hired, and when they can be fired. in the same public schools The courts, especially since Brown v. Board of Education, that she attended as a child, have had a profound impact on public education. After lead- this winter my mother-in- ing the fight to desegregate public schools in the 1950s and law decided to run for the 1960s, courts now mandate all sorts of education policies. local school board.… In They set rules on which student organizations can assemble last month’s election, Linda on public school grounds, what kinds of religious references upset a two-term incum- valedictorians can make at graduation, what allowances and bent by winning over 90 accommodations must be made for students with disabilities. percent of the votes cast. State courts have had a definite impact on school finance, Some challenges, of setting fixed standards on the levels and types of permissible course, will come from sit- funding inequalities between and within districts. And now, ting board members who courts are adjudicating cases over whether local school boards disagree with Linda’s views can place stickers claiming that “evolution is a theory, not a on these matters. But the real hazards lie elsewhere — specifi- fact” in science textbooks. cally, with politicians in every level and branch of govern- Whereas 19th-century school board members governed ment who, over the past half-century, have worked to dis- virtually all aspects of public education, today boards must

Research Papers

The Impact of Charter Schools on Student Achievement Learning to Lead? What Gets Taught in Principal Preparation Programs by Caroline Hoxby (Harvard) and Jonah Rockoff (Columbia), NBER Working Paper, May 2005. by Frederick M. Hess and Andrew P. Kelly (American Enterprise Institute). Using data from a large charter school system, the Chicago charter schools, this study investigates how students’ achievements are The new era of accountability and No Child Left Behind has affected by their attending charter schools. Identifying a good con- created a new and critical role for principals that demands trol group for charter school students is very difficult and most strong and effective leadership. In this study, Hess and Kelly studies are plagued by the problem that the charter school students investigate whether principals are adequately prepared for this differ from the comparison group in observable or unobservable job. Investigating 210 syllabi collected from a national cross- ways. This study overcomes this problem by using the fact that the section of 31 principal preparation programs, they find the charter schools were required to select students by lottery when the courses to be “severely lacking.” They conclude that the gradu- number of students exceeded the number of available places. ates of these programs are not adequately trained to take on the Relying on random assignment of students and comparing new challenge of accountability. “lotteried-in” and “lotteried-out” students, the authors find that in comparison to the lotteried-out students, “students who apply to and attend charter schools starting in the elementary grades [and (The highlights of this article are available in have spent an average of two years at the school] score about six “The Accidental Principal” by Frederick M. Hess, national percentile rank points higher in both math and reading.” Education next, Summer 2005.)

12 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE New Books and Research Papers

Common Sense Choice and Competition Generational Change: School Reform in American Education Closing the Test Score Gap by Frederick Hess Paul Peterson, ed. (Rowman and Paul Peterson, ed. (Rowman and (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005). Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005).

compete with political actors scattered throughout the local, Should we applaud these trends?… Aren’t the excesses of state, and federal governments. localism (cronyism, corruption, provincialism, and waste) Then there is the recent push for standards and accounta- ample justification for legislative and judicial intervention? bility, epitomized by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. To be sure, not all aspects of local education politics are While states choose the tests and set the standards, local cause for celebration.… But in the push to advance the now- school boards must reorganize curricula to advance fixed fashionable goals of standardization and accountability, we objectives that were identified by state and federal bureau- would do well to reflect upon the appropriate role of the gov- crats. To a greater and greater extent, the purposes of educa- erning institution that, at least historically, has assumed pri- tion are defined from on high, while school boards, and the mary responsibility for the educational lives of children. schools under their care, scramble to demonstrate compliance For if not the local school board, then which political from below. institution will hear, and heed, their voices?

Economics of “Acting White” Rotten Apples: An Investigation of the Prevalence of Teacher Cheating by David Austen-Smith (Northwestern) and Roland Fryer (Harvard), by Brian A. Jacob (Harvard) Quarterly Journal of Economics (forthcoming). and Steven D. Levitt (Chicago), This paper formalizes the tendency of “acting white” and its Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(3), 2003. consequences on black achievement and labor-market out- Using data from the Chicago Public Schools, the authors find comes. The authors argue that there is a tradeoff: “behaviors evidence of teacher or administrator cheating on standardized that promote labor-market success are behaviors that induce tests in at least 4–5% of elementary schools annually. They peer rejection.” Consequently, chances of peer rejection often argue that frequency of cheating responds strongly to even small drive individuals to choose lower education, which in turn, changes in incentives. As a result, reforms that garner strong engenders lower labor-market outcomes. incentives, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, may induce larger amounts of teacher cheating unless care is taken to ensure that it does not occur.

ANNUAL REPORT 13 Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Associates

Christopher Berry was a postdoctoral fellow at the Martin West, Bradley fellow at PEPG, is the co-editor PEPG during 2002–04. Currently, he is an assistant professor of No Child Left Behind? The Politics and Practice of School in the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Accountability (Brookings, 2004) and has published articles Chicago and a research affiliate at PEPG. Berry received his on topics including school vouchers, tuition tax credits, Ph.D. from the Department of Political Science at the charter school research, and the effects of class size and University of Chicago. He was awarded the William school size on student achievement. He is also a research Anderson award in 2004 for the best doctoral dissertation in fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution the field of federalism, intergovernmental relations, state and and the research editor of Education next. West holds an local politics. In recent research on school size, he has shown M.Phil. in Economic and Social History from Oxford that students from small schools earn more later in life. University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in govern- ment and social policy at Harvard University. David Campbell was a PEPG research fellow during 1999–2001. Currently, he is an assistant professor of politi- Patrick Wolf entered Harvard’s government Ph.D. pro- cal science at the University of Notre Dame, a research affil- gram in 1988, completed his dissertation on bureaucratic iate at PEPG, and a fellow of Notre Dame’s Institute for effectiveness under Paul Peterson’s direction, and in 1998 Educational Initiatives. He received his Ph.D. in govern- joined the faculty of Georgetown University’s Public Policy ment from Harvard University in 2002 and received the Institute as an associate professor, where he is now a 2004 E. E. Schattschneider award for best doctoral disserta- tenured member of the faculty. He co-authored a half-dozen tion in the field of American politics. His forthcoming journal articles and book chapters on school choice in New book is entitled Why We Vote: How Schools and Communities York City, Dayton, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. In the Shape Our Civic Life (Princeton University Press). In recent spring of 2004, Wolf led a team of D.C.-based researchers research, he has investigated the factors that lead families to into the competition for the federal contract to study the participate in a school voucher program. D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, and his team was selected as the official evaluator of this important new Rajashri Chakrabarti is the current postdoctoral fellow school-choice initiative. at PEPG. She received her Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University and was a recipient of the Sage Fellowship during Thomas T. Hoopes Prize Winners her graduate studies at Cornell. Her current research focuses Awarded to undergraduates, along with their academic on school choice and accountability. In recent work, she supervisors, to recognize outstanding scholarly work. argues that differences in voucher designs can lead to very Matthew Mark Chingos, B.A. ‘05, different responses from public schools. She has investigated “The Effects of Florida’s A-Plus Accountability and School Choice the effects of the Florida and Milwaukee voucher programs Program on Student Achievement” on public school performance. In other research, she argues Supervised by professors Caroline M. Hoxby and Paul E. Peterson that voucher design matters as far as student sorting is con- Brad Michael Smith, B.A. ‘05, cerned and shows that the Milwaukee program has been able “The Results of Political Compromises in Education: The Effects on to eliminate sorting by income. Student Achievement of Charter Schools in Milwaukee” Supervised by Martin R. West

Sidney Verba with David Campbell Christopher Berry Eric Hanushek, Rajashri Chakrabarti, and David Armor

14 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Associates

PEPG’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program PEPG offers a one-year resident fellowship at the postdoctoral level from July to June of each year. Fellows work at Harvard University and are expected to engage in independent projects that are related to the program’s focus. Additionally, fellows are expected to collaborate with PEPG’s ongoing research and programs.

For additional information, please go to http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/postdoc.htm

Martin West, Christopher Berry, William Howell, and Jeffrey Berry Patrick Wolf

ANNUAL REPORT 15 The School Choice Debate The School Choice Debate The Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2004 The New York Sun, April 11, 2005 “Dog Eats AFT Homework” by William Howell, Paul Peterson “Power of the Voucher” by Paul Peterson and Martin West and Martin West School vouchers are making a comeback. Under legislation [A] recently released study of charter schools issued by the championed by Governor Bush, the number of Florida stu- American Federation of Teachers, … after receiving top dents using vouchers, either because they are disabled billing in the right-hand corner of the front or were attending struggling public schools, has page of yesterday's New York crossed the 10,000 mark. Meanwhile, Mr. Bush Times, was picked up by news has raised the ante further by asking the Florida media across the country. The Legislature to provide vouchers for all low- AFT's conclusion: “Charter performing students. schools are underperforming.” To its credit, [No Child Left Behind] neatly Big deal. These results could combines accountability and parental choice. easily indicate nothing other Either public schools must perform well, or than the simple fact that charter parents must be given the choice of another, schools are typically asked to non-failing public school within the dis- serve problematic students in low- trict. Is public school choice under NCLB performing districts with many poor, enough to promote school improvement? minority children. It is now possible to examine this Indeed, the AFT's most telling com- question systematically in Florida, side by parisons — the ones within ethnic groups side with a similar study of the voucher — cut against the case it is trying to make. component of that state's own accountabil- This comparison is vital, precisely because ity scheme. Vouchers remain available to prior research has found ethnic differences to Floridians in all those schools that received an “F” be large. Yet when the authors look just at grade under the state accountability system twice in any four- African-American or Hispanic children, they year period. The voucher threat was expected to give them an find no statistically significant difference between public incentive to improve in the school year 2002-2003. Did it? school students and those in charter schools. Information from every elementary school student in But do any of these findings — within ethnic groups or Florida for the years 2002-04 allows us, for the first time, to otherwise — say anything meaningful about the quality of answer these questions. As it turns out, the stigma of receiv- charter schools? Not a bit. For starters, one must do much ing a “D” by itself, motivated schools to work harder the more than look separately at students grouped by free lunch next year. They outperformed by a significant margin the status, ethnicity or school location, in order to take into “C” schools that just missed getting the worse grade. Still, account family influences on a child's learning capacity. All the “F” schools, faced with the threat of vouchers, did even of these factors — and many other considerations — must better, raising scores by an amount roughly equivalent to be combined into a sophisticated analysis in order to begin to three to four months of student learning above the perform- gauge how well students perform. ance of students in the “C” schools. They did so despite the The AFT study only looks at student performance at a fact that these “F” schools had highly disadvantaged, pre- single moment in time. One needs to track student progress dominantly minority populations. within a school over multiple years in order to ascertain how Meanwhile, we found no impact at all of the threat of much the child is learning. Moreover, nothing in these data public-school choice under NCLB as it was implemented in accounts for the length of time that a charter school has Florida the next school year. No harm done, but no good been in place — a factor known to have an impact on a either. As Congress thinks about how to enhance NCLB, the school's performance. voucher option should be put back on the table. (The paper is available at http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/)

16 PROGRAM ON EDUCATION POLICY & GOVERNANCE Staff Research Education Policy Colloquia Series “Participation in a National Means Tested Voucher Program,” (Spring and Fall 2004, Spring 2005) David Campbell, Martin West, and Paul Peterson “Common Sense School Reform,” Frederick Hess “Latest Results from the New York City Voucher Experiment,” “Do Charter Schools Promote Student Citizenship?” Jack Buckley Paul Peterson and William Howell “School District Consolidation and Student Outcomes: Does “Efficiency, Bias and Classification Schemes: Estimating Private- Size Matter?” Christopher Berry School Impacts on Test Scores in the New York City Voucher Experiment,” Paul Peterson and William Howell “No Child Left Behind?” Paul Peterson “Impact of Voucher Design on Public School Performance: “Impact of Vouchers on Public Schools: Evidence from Evidence from Florida and Milwaukee Voucher Programs,” Milwaukee,” Rajashri Chakrabarti Rajashri Chakrabarti “Charter Schools in Chicago: Evidence from a Randomized Trial,” “Can Increasing Private School Participation and Monetary Loss Caroline Hoxby in a Voucher Program Affect Public School Performance? “The Economics of Acting White,” Roland Fryer Evidence from Milwaukee,” Rajashri Chakrabarti “Educational Adequacy in Massachusetts: Hancock v. Driscoll,” “Do Vouchers Lead to Sorting under Random Private School Robert Costrell Selection? Evidence from Milwaukee,” Rajashri Chakrabarti “The Efficacy of Choice Threats within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments,” Paul Peterson and Martin West

Papers from the Conference: Papers from the Conference: 50 Years after School Board Politics Brown: What Remains to Be Done? (October 15–17, 2003) (April 22–24, 2004) “The Local School District in American Law,” Richard Briffault “Leaving No Black Children Behind,” Chester E. Finn Jr. and Joseph P. Chamberlain “The Course of Federal Desegregation Litigation since Brown: “Desegregation and School Board Politics: The Limits of Court- How Conflict Gave Way to Collusion,” Charles Cooper Imposed Policy Change,” Luis Fraga, Nick Rodriguez, and “Preschool Programs and the Achievement Gap: The Little Train Bari Anhalt Erlichson That Could,” Ron Haskins “Whither Localism? No Child Left Behind and the Local Politics “Black Achievement 50 Years after Brown,” David Armor of Federal Education Reform,” Douglas Reed “Is Increased Diversity the Answer to the Achievement Gap: “Teacher Unions and School Board Elections,” Terry Moe Race-Conscious K–12 Student Assignment Plans in the “School House Politics: Expenditures, Interests, and Competition Aftermath of Grutter,” John Munich in School Board Elections,” Frederick Hess and David Leal “Resources and Racial Skill Gaps,” Derek Neal “Retrospective Voting in Single Function Elections: School “Educational Adequacy Lawsuits: The Rest of the Story,” Boards, Test Scores, and Incumbents’ Electoral Fortunes,” Al Lindseth Christopher Berry and William Howell “School Accountability and the Black-White Test Score Gap,” “Contextual Influences on Participation in Local and School Margaret Raymond and Eric Hanushek Governance,” David Campbell “Education Accountability: Motivation or Discrimination? “Electoral Structure and the Quality of Representation: A Survey of Legal Theories Used to Challenge and Defend State The Policy Consequences of School Board Elections,” Accountability Systems,” Jane Wilensky Kenneth J. Meier and Eric Gonzalez Juenke “School Choice by Mortgage or Design: Implications for the “Minority Representation and Local School Boards,” Black-White Test-Score Gap,” Patrick Wolf Melissa J. Marschall “Delaying the Dream: Legal Obstacles to School Choice,” “When Mayors Lead Urban Schools: Toward Developing a Clint Bolick Framework to Assess the Effects of Mayoral Takeover of Urban Districts,” Kenneth Wong and Francis Shen (Papers from the conference on Schooling and Human Capital Formation are available at http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/) “School District Consolidation and Student Outcomes: Does Size Matter?” Christopher Berry “The Market for Hamburgers Is Simple Compared to the Market for Charter Schools: McDonalds, Burger King, and Local School Boards,” Mark Schneider, Paul Teske, and Erin Cassese

ANNUAL REPORT 17 What’s next in Education?

Education next: A JOURNAL OF OPINION AND RESEARCH ♦ engaging features ♦ major research findings ♦ forums where pressing issues are discussed But don’t take our word for it! For a free sample copy or to subscribe, call 1-800-935-2882, or visit our website at www.educationnext.org

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