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Education Next: New Study Shows Schools of Choice Are Better at Boosting Civic Values Among Students

Posted on: Monday, 14 May 2007, 09:00 CDT

Schools of choice, both private and public, often do a better job of boosting civic values among their students than assigned public schools, according to a new study in the forthcoming issue of Education Next (summer 2007). In a meta-analysis of 21 quantitative studies, the University of Arkansas's Patrick J. Wolf found that schools of choice tended to fare better at steeping their students in seven civic values necessary for democratic citizenship: political tolerance, voluntarism, political knowledge, political participation, social capital, civic skills, and patriotism.

A majority of the 59 findings from the 21 studies suggest that the effect of private schooling or school choice on civic values (as compared to traditional public schools) is, if not neutral, then mostly positive. Among the more rigorous studies more than half of the 23 findings (52 percent) show school choice or private schooling as having statistically significant positive effects on civic values; 10 findings show a neutral effect. Only one finding showed traditional public schooling arrangements to be better at enhancing civic values. (Rigorous studies are those that control for selection bias in addition to differences in student backgrounds in the various schools.)

"These results suggest that the expansion of school choice is more likely to enhance than diminish the civic values of our next generation of citizens," Wolf writes.

When specific civic values were examined, positive effects were usually found in schools of choice whenever statistically significant differences were identified. For instance, in studies of political tolerance, Wolf's research revealed that, with one exception, the findings were in the neutral-to-positive range. Fifty percent of the findings -- 11 out of 22 -- indicate that schools of choice increase political tolerance.

In studies of voluntarism, 57 percent of the findings showed a school choice advantage; only 1 of the 14 findings showed a traditional public school benefit. Specifically, the findings reveal higher voluntarism among students in religious schools, parents of students in religious schools, parents who homeschool, students in any type of private school, and students in public charter schools.

Studies of political knowledge, political participation, civic skills and social capital all overwhelmingly showed a school-choice benefit. No findings saw a traditional public school advantage.

Most of the studies Wolf examined compared students in private schools with those in public schools; three compare results for students in charter or magnet schools with those in public schools. In past research, several prominent scholars have shown that Catholic schools do well on measurements of teaching civic values. But Wolf's analysis showed that a clear school choice advantage remained even after removing studies of Catholic schools and Latino students (who, if privately schooled, usually attend Catholic schools). In particular, 22 of the 45 findings involving non-Catholic schools showed a school choice advantage; only three showed a traditional public school advantage. Twenty findings were neutral.

Read "Civics Exam: Schools of Choice Boost Civic Values" now online at www.EducationNext.org.

Patrick J. Wolf is professor of education reform and 21st Century Chair in School Choice at the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions.

Education Next is a scholarly journal published by the Hoover Institution that is committed to looking at hard facts about school reform. Other sponsoring institutions are the Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance and the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Source: Business Wire

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