PARENTAL CHOICE IN EDUCATION - EXAMINING THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS

In this article, the authors describe four prominent forms of parental choice that have been proposed as broad policy tools to improve educa tion, identify assumptions underlying these initiatives, and review th e findings of research that bear on these assumptions. Although the ev idence is generally incomplete and inconclusive, it sheds more light o n the type of parents who are most likely to exercise choice: They ten d to be better educated and already involved in their children's educa tion. The general lack of evidence leads us to two observations: (a) t he current debate over choice may center less on the question of its a bility to improve education and more on the question of whose interest s are served by education, and (b) the failure of researchers to exami ne nonchoosing parents may have eliminated an important perspective fr om the discussion on choice as an educational policy tool.