POLITICAL-ECONOMY OF PUBLIC-EDUCATION - NON-COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENTS

My previous research showed that two important changes in the politica l environment of public schools-growing teacher unionization and a shi ft of funding responsibility to state governments-adversely affected t he performance of college-bound students. Here I show similar impacts for public school students who do not go to college. These effects are found in analyses of 1971-91 changes in a school performance measure derived from individual scores on the Armed Forces Qualifying Test. Co mparative analysis of performance trends in different areas of the sam e state suggests that the adverse performance effects of teacher union ization and spending centralization stem from their impact on state ed ucational policy rather than on the direct operation of schools. These adverse effects are also found for students in the lower tail of achi evement and for black students, They are not plausibly related to broa der political and social changes.