Teachers’ Attitudes and the Success of School Choice

Abstract

The 1990s witnessed growing attention to the adoption of choice‐based school reforms, particularly charter schooling and school vouchers. Although researchers have approached the school choice debate from theoretical, normative, and empirical directions, little attention has been paid to examining how teachers view school choice or what factors shape their attitudes. This oversight is significant because teachers can impact the success of school choice experiments in many ways, such as through their willingness to launch and staff schools of choice, adopt new practices developed in schools of choice, and support choice‐based reform efforts in their unions and communities. Using a survey of Arizona and Nevada teachers, we find that White, experienced, unionized, Democratic educators and those working in a “positive” school environment are less supportive of school choice. Arizona teachers, who live in close approximation of a free market for education, are particularly hostile to choice, but teachers who have had personal contact with a charter school are more supportive. The results indicate that the success of school choice will likely be influenced by the characteristics of the teacher workforce and teachers’ familiarity with competition.

School Choice Acceptance: An Exploratory Explication

“…These include choice between public and private schools, choice between public school districts, and choice among public schools in the same district (Belfield & Levin, 2002). Studies have focused on choice measured through interdistrict transfers (Rabovsky, 2011), numbers of school districts (Hoxby, 2000), vouchers (Witte, 2000), vouchers as well as charters (Ferraiolo, Hess, Maranto, & Milliman, 2004). This article measures choice, ideology, and culture on the basis of: (a) choice options and legislation, (b) voting records in Congress, and (c) a widely accepted operationalization of political culture.…”

Markets in Education

“…5 This may not only be the case before policies are introduced but also during their implementation. It has been suggested that a certain hostility of teachers towards competition may result from unfamiliarity (Ferraiolo et al 2004). A survey tapping into teacher attitudes towards school choice found teachers in the states of Arizona and Nevada to be less supportive of voucher programmes than charter programmes (teachers in Nevada were more supportive on the whole).…”

“…School principals are asked more often about their perceptions and actions regarding market mechanisms than teachers. Research that looks specifically at teacher responses to policies such as the introduction of charter schools, vouchers or open enrolment schemes is very scarce (see also Ferraiolo et al, 2004;Stoddard and Corcoran, 2006). However, in the studies that are available, teachers tend to be more sceptical about market mechanisms in education than principals.…”

Does team-based variable pay work?

“…School reform has been at the forefront of education for years. The quest for a reform movement that will positively impact student achievement has caused educators, legislators, and the general public to focus on areas such as public school choice, tuition tax credits, vouchers, charter schools, preschool for all 3and 4-year-olds, implementation of state standards, and reduced class size (Drew, 1984;Ferraiolo, Hess, Maranto, & Millman, 2004;Odden, 1994).…”

“…implementation of state standards, and reduced class size (Drew, 1984;Ferraiolo, Hess, Maranto, & Millman, 2004;Odden, 1994).…”