School Choice and Competitive Incentives: Mapping the Distribution of Educational Opportunities across Local Education Markets.

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Title:	School Choice and Competitive Incentives: Mapping the Distribution of Educational Opportunities across Local Education Markets.
Authors:	LUBIENSKI, CHRISTOPHER¹, GULOSINO, CHARISSE², WEITZEL, PETER¹
Source:	American Journal of Education. Aug2009, Vol. 115 Issue 4, p601-647. 47p. 5 Charts, 6 Maps.
Subject Terms:	School choice, Schools, *Educational objectives, United States education system, Economic competition, Organizational behavior
Geographic Terms:	United States
Abstract:	Competition sparked by school choice is expected to generate greater educational opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged students. The premise is that competitive incentives will change the organizational behavior of schools (and districts, dioceses, etc.) in ways that will lead to more equitable access for students across varied and often segregated urban landscapes. Drawing from theories of institutional environments and nonprofit firms, this analysis investigates patterns of access across three highly competitive local education markets to determine how school choices are arranged as options expand. The findings indicate that competitive incentives can have similar impacts on different types of organizations, but both policy variations and contextual factors such as demographic distributions may also play critical roles in shaping the market structures in which schools operate. Notably, all three cases showed patterns of exclusionary strategies that schools embraced to enhance market position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
	Copyright of American Journal of Education is the property of University of Chicago and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database:	Education Research Complete

Description
Abstract:	Competition sparked by school choice is expected to generate greater educational opportunities, particularly for disadvantaged students. The premise is that competitive incentives will change the organizational behavior of schools (and districts, dioceses, etc.) in ways that will lead to more equitable access for students across varied and often segregated urban landscapes. Drawing from theories of institutional environments and nonprofit firms, this analysis investigates patterns of access across three highly competitive local education markets to determine how school choices are arranged as options expand. The findings indicate that competitive incentives can have similar impacts on different types of organizations, but both policy variations and contextual factors such as demographic distributions may also play critical roles in shaping the market structures in which schools operate. Notably, all three cases showed patterns of exclusionary strategies that schools embraced to enhance market position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:	01956744
DOI:	10.1086/599778