From 2010 onwards, most US states have aligned their education standards by adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and English Language Arts. The CCSS did not target other subjects such as science and social studies. We estimate spillovers of the CCSS on student achievement in...

School curricula have lasting impacts on students. In theory, reforming school curricula can be a powerful tool for policy-makers, but may also be harmful. To empirically prove the latter, we analyse the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and English in the US. We...

While an abundance of school choice literature focuses on student achievement outcomes, little has been done to determine the mechanisms involved in producing such outcomes. We present a comparative analysis of private and public school principals using data from the School and Staffing Survey...

Though researchers now are aware of the potential importance of character skills, such as conscientiousness, grit, self-control, and a growth mindset, researchers struggle to find reliable measures of these skills. In this paper, we use data collected from the Understanding America Study, a...

School voucher programs (a.k.a. opportunity scholarships) are scholarship programs - frequently government funded - that pay for students to attend private schools of their choice. Many private school vouchers programs have been initiated around the world with the goal of increasing the academic...

Education reforms that allow new educational providers to supply schooling into a state system can improve parental satisfaction and raise learning outcomes through consumer choice. Choice provides children with schooling that matches their interests. A child engaged in school is more likely to...

Scholars differ as to whether populist beliefs are a discourse or an ideology resembling conservatism or liberalism. Research has shown that a belief in popular sovereignty and a distrust of public officials are core components of populism. Its antithesis is defined as Burke’s claim that...

"This volume of essays examines the empirical evidence on school choice in different countries across Europe, North America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. It demonstrates the advantages which choice offers in different institutional contexts, whether it be Free Schools in the UK, voucher...

Additional private schooling within a nation-state may increase citizens' political and economic freedom through increased educational quality, balanced power relationships, and increased civic engagement.We employ a two-stage-least-squares time and country-level fixed-effects analytical...