PROJECTS
Research, major projects, and long-form contributions
July 2023 | Journal of School Choice
Discourse around school choice often is divisive. Less understood is the effect polarization has within advocate groups. The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) approach offers a systematic approach to understanding how political actors use narratives to affect policy debates. Because NPF assumes bounded relativity, the approach requires a theory of political ideology that can explain why narratives stick within certain ideological boundaries. Because Kling’s three-axes model provides non-mutually exclusive character identification, it can help illuminate in-group overlap and conflict. This essay uses NPF and Kling to examine how narratives are used by various subgroups within the school choice advocacy coalition.
June 2023 | EdChoice
"Does school choice work? The short answer is yes. The longer answer begins with a question: how do you know whether an education reform works?"
January 2023 | EdChoice
From March 31 to May 23, 2022, EdChoice administered a survey of Nebraska private school leaders. This brief provides a descriptive analysis of the results of that survey, including tuition and fees, the number of open seats, regulatory concerns, and interest in educational choice programs. This report follows another survey of Nebraska private school leaders that EdChoice conducted in 2015, which received responses from 105 private schools. Considering the gap between the two surveys, this report could provide insight into long-term changes in Nebraska’s private education environment.
November 2022 | EdChoice, Kansas Policy Institute
This brief is the first empirical study on Kansas’ tax-credit scholarship program. We do so by surveying Kansas parents with children currently in K–12 education, both those who have participated in the program and those who have not. In analyzing responses to our survey, we identified families using Kansas' Low-Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program to understand who uses it, why parents decide to participate, and how parents feel about such a program. We also provide responses from parents of students enrolled in private school but not participating in a choice program (nonprogram private), traditional public schools, and homeschooling.
September 2022 | EdChoice, Braun Research
EdChoice and Braun Research conducted its annual polling series to gauge the opinions of the American public (N= 1,200) and school parents (N= 1,200) on topics like the direction K-12 education is heading, parents’ schooling preferences and sentiments on school choice policy, among others. Both survey samples are nationally representative of those respective populations.
EXPLORING KENTUCKY'S PRIVATE EDUCATION SECTOR
March 14, 2022 | EdChoice
Given the Bluegrass State’s success in establishing a tax-credit ESA during its 2021 legislative session, the characteristics of Kentucky’s private school sector can inform policy debates surrounding the potential creation of educational choice programs.
FAMILIES' SCHOOLING EXPERIENCES IN OHIO
November 2021 | EdChoice
In this brief, we continue the study of Ohio’s school choice programs by surveying K–12 parents in the state. We focus on the Educational Choice Scholarship Program and Cleveland Scholarship Program, as well as how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed parents’ educational experiences in the state. In analyzing responses to our survey, we identified families using these programs to understand who uses them, why parents decide to use these programs, and how parents feel about them. We also provide responses from parents of students enrolled in private school but not participating in voucher programs (non-choice private) as well as parents of students in traditional public schools, community schools, and who homeschool.
July 2021 | EdChoice, Braun Research
The 2021 Schooling in America Survey (SIA) sets out to assess what Americans and, in particular, parents of school-age children think about COVID-19, K–12 education, their personal experiences, and public attitudes on policies that affect schooling.
John provided the data management and visualization for the 2021 SIA.
EdChoice
The ABCs of School Choice is the most comprehensive descriptive analysis of every private school choice program in the United States, updated annually.
John collaborates with state agencies and organizational partners to collect data for the report, provide quality control, and write blog posts summarizing findings. In 2021, he has the privilege of managing two talented research assistants to optimize the project.
January 2021 | Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education, EdChoice
The purpose of the Iowa K–12 & School Choice Survey is to measure public opinion on, and in some cases awareness or knowledge of, a range of K–12 education topics and school choice reforms. EdChoice and the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education developed this project in partnership with Braun Research, Inc., which conducted the online interviews and live phone call interviews, collected the survey data, and provided data quality control.
