Research & Analysis

Explore the data-driven side of education choice. Our research, polling, and demographics section offers valuable insights backed by facts and figures.

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What teachers unions can learn from NBA players

Over the past two decades, taxpayers across the country have increased their investment in public education. One surprising group hasn’t seen much benefit from this spending growth: Public-school teachers. A new report by the Reason Foundation looks at the state of public education funding. It shows that even as public-school... READ MORE
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What parents want, and how to make sure they can get it
A new report by EdChoice uses parent surveys to identify what parents want from their schools. The whole thing is worth reading, but I wanted to highlight two key points...
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Florida sets new education choice records as 1.7 million students choose
A record-setting 1.7 million K-12 students in Florida attended a school of choice last year, an increase of more than 42,000 over the year prior.   In all, 49% of Florida’s...
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Keeping parents in the dark about student achievement comes with a cost
International test results released last month put a spotlight on the global decline in student achievement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and school closures. But the results from the Program...
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Opinion: Why NAEP scores should be used with skepticism when ranking states’ charter schools
Harvard University’s Paul Peterson and M. Danish Shakeel wrote a response to a critique of their Charter School Report Card. The authors note that I misinterpreted their study in saying...
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Look below the surface of public-school competition
Studies have repeatedly found that competition from charter and private schools drives small but meaningful improvements in public schools’ performance. But most of those studies look at individual states or...
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Paging Special Agent Johnny Utah to investigate Utah mystery
“Point Break” follows the adventures of newly minted FBI Special Agent Johnny Utah as he unravels the mystery of a group of Los Angeles bank robbers known as “the Ex-Presidents.”...
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The Nation’s Charter Report Card Demonstrates a Broader Need to Update School Quality Thinking
Paul E. Peterson and M. Danish Shakeel recently published a ranking of state charter school sectors based upon their NAEP 4th and 8th grade proficiency rates between 2009 and 2019....
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Better with age? Study shows ‘maturation’ of Florida school choice programs boosts public school results
The longer Florida’s private school scholarship programs operated, the bigger the benefits for students in public schools. That’s the headline finding from a new study published this week in the...
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Strainolypse Now
  Back in 2015, I authored a study sounding the alarm regarding America’s changing age demography and how it would soon challenge K-12 education called Turn and Face the Strain....
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Get smart fast, vol. 9
Who benefits from remote work? Research says that on average, remote workers are less productive from employers’ perspectives. But they may be more productive from a different perspective: They spend...
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