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Program Design Called Crucial Across Array of School Choices

While school choice may be one of the most polarizing issues in education today, a new volume of research papers makes the case that innovations aimed at giving families more say in where their children go to school can be whatever their architects make of them.

Programs such as magnet schools, charters, tuition tax credits, or open-enrollment options can either lead to schools that are more integrated by race and socioeconomic status or they can exacerbate segregation. They can promote innovative approaches to schooling or stifle them. They can spur learning gains for students or make no difference in achievement. It’s all in how they’re designed, the authors argue.

“A lot of times the debate is that, while I’m talking about magnet schools, you’re talking about vouchers,” said Gary J. Miron, the lead editor of the book. “The debate often overlooks the diversity within the broad realm of school choice and the difference in how specific types of school choice...