EDUC735 - Journal Article Critique - Student Choice Assignment
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EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
1
Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
D. Colton Scott
School of PHD: Education: Curriculum and Instruction, Liberty University
Author Note
D. Colton Scott
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to:
D. Colton Scott
Email:
dcscott5@liberty.edu
EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
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Free to Choose?
The title of the article that I will be critiquing is entitled, “Free to Choose:
Can School
Choice Reduce Student Achievement?” by Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Parag Pathak, and Christopher
Walters.
This article delves into the hot topic of discussion surrounding student school choice
and the increasing competition that seems to be taking place inside educational systems across
the country essentially fighting for students.
The article attempts to answer whether school
choice helps or hinders student achievement overall.
Summary
According to the article, “The benefits and costs of increasing school choice in the United
States education system are a matter of continuing debate.” (Abdulkadiroglu et. al., 2018, page
1) Many of those who opposed student school choice believe that school choice and allowing for
students to choose where they go to school forces unwanted and unnecessary competition
amongst school districts who ultimately and essentially end up fighting over students and
funding for said students.
Others who are proponents and advocates for the aforementioned
school choice believe that the competition that comes into play thanks, in part, to student school
choice only betters the educational instruction quality overall and promotes overall better
matching for both students and educational systems as a whole.
Overall, this specific article
allegedly proves that school choice and student school choice can ultimately lead to a vast
reduction in student achievement within the given school system.
The authors of this paper state
that, through their research and data analysis, school choice programs and allowing students to
choose where they ultimately go to school ends up reducing academic achievement, lowering the
EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
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mean testing scores and overall leading to an increase or uptick in the failing of courses such as
mathematics, social studies, science and reading/English/language arts.
Critical Analysis
According to my selected article for this journal article critique assignment, school
voucher programs continue to be on the upswing across America.
The authors of this article state
that “the number of students using educational vouchers increased by 130 percent between 2009
and 2015.”
(Alliance for School Choice, 2009; 2017) Eligibility for voucher programs is
normally limited to those students whose families come from underprivileged backgrounds
where the breadwinners earn roughly 250% below the national federal poverty line.
Oftentimes,
when it comes to student school choice and their choosing of where they want to be educated,
students have to first apply for vouchers to cover tuition costs and expenses to become eligible at
schools of their ultimate choosing.
As it stands, very few public schools participate in the
voucher program in its current state.
The intended audience for this article is skewed much more for those who are leery of
student school choice and have reservation about allowing students to be able to pick where they
want to go to school.
Overall, in my reading of this article, I thought that the author clearly
communicated all points in a way that was factual and informative while being backed up by
data and statistics that proved certain points overall relating to the subject matter.
Each author is
a professor at a university where their field of study relates very closely to the subject matter
being discussed including data and statistics analysis of educational programs (private and
public) across the nation.
The sample data that was provided was pulled from the Louisiana
Scholarship Program that was launched back in 2008 coming from then-Governor Bobby Jindal
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EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
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who ultimately then authorized for there to be a statewide expansion of the voucher program in
late 2012.
(Barrow, 2012) The authors go into great detail providing information on how the
voucher program works in this specific region including how private school who participate must
accept LSP vouchers as full methods of payment when it comes to covering tuition costs and
expenses.
The authors then go into great detail discussing other area of eligibility for school choice
programs (mainly in private schooling institutions).
“Private schools must undergo annual
financial audits and administer Louisiana state achievement tests to LSP students.”
(Abdulkadiroglu et. al., 2018, page 178) They also speak of the students who are attendees not
from the LSP program and how they are NOT required to take the aforementioned tests and
assessments.
“Schools with more than 40 total voucher students or 10 voucher students per
grade receive a public Scholarship Cohort Index (SCI) score, an SPS-like rating based on
voucher student achievement. Schools with SCI scores lower than 50 (equivalent to an F on the
SPS scale) in the second year of participation or any subsequent year are not eligible to enroll
new voucher students the next year, though the school may retain students already enrolled.”
(Abdulkadiroglu et. al., 2018, page 178)
Conclusion
As far as I can tell from my own professional experiences in dealing with student school
choice, I have to say I disagree with many of the assertions made in this article based on student
achievement overall in regards to student choice of educational institution and instruction.
The
students who come to the school for which I am a teacher for CHOOSE to come to our
institution and program because it works for them.
The flexibility that an online/virtual school
EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
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provides really allows for many of our students to thrive and grow academically where they were
floundering or drowning in another schooling institution beforehand.
As this article relates to my
topic that I will be writing about for my research paper in this course, I feel that equity in the
online learning environment has to only continue to become better and grow overall so that
student achievement can be greater overall despite whether a student attends a traditional brick-
and-mortar school or a virtual/online school such as Oklahoma Connections Academy via
Pearson. Just because one study attempts to prove that student school choice is detrimental in one
specific area in one specific schooling district or region does not provide a blanket denial or
refute the benefits that student school choice can provide as well.
EDUC735 – Journal Article Critique: Student Choice Assignment
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References:
Abdulkadiroğlu, A., Pathak, P. A., & Walters, C. R. (2018). Free to Choose: Can School Choice
Reduce Student Achievement?
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
,
10
(1),
175–206.
https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20160634
Alliance for School Choice. (2017). “School Choice Yearbook 2014–2015.”
http://afcgrowthfund.org/ yearbook.
Barrow, Bill. (2012). “Louisiana Senate Votes to Expand Vouchers, Public Charter Schools.”
Times-Picayune, April 4.
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/04/louisiana_senate_votes_ to_expa.html
.
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