Resources
Education Policy
Finding the right school for your child can be a daunting task, but you’re not alone. Navigating the education system also means understanding the laws that impact your child’s learning environment. Below, we’ve highlighted key Arkansas education policies to help you stay informed and take advantage of opportunities designed to benefit your family:
Arkansas LEARNS Act (Act 237 of 2023)
- This transformative law offers Education Freedom Accounts, giving parents the financial flexibility to choose private or home-schooling options.
Compulsory Education Law
- Ensures all children aged 5–17 attend school, providing flexibility through public, private, and home education.
Curriculum Restrictions
- Teachers in public schools are restricted from providing instruction on topics like gender identity and sexual orientation before 5th grade, ensuring transparency in classroom content.
School Discipline Regulations
- Detailed policies govern suspension, expulsion, and corporal punishment, providing clear expectations for student behavior and disciplinary measures.
Data & Research
At the Reform Alliance, we believe that parents and policy makers should have the data necessary to make informed decisions that impact the future.
We hope that this collection of research answers your questions about educational choices and other educational matters! We have also included surveys and polling data to give you insight on public opinion.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at the Reform Alliance!
The ABCs of School Choice
The ABCs of School Choice is a comprehensive, data-rich guide to every private school choice program in America. This annually updated publication may not reflect developments past January 3, 2024. Publisher: EdChoice (2024)
The 123s of School Choice
In this resource, EdChoice has broken down all of the empirical studies of U.S. voucher, tax-credit scholarship and education savings account programs to date. Publisher: EdChoice (2024)
EdChoice 101: An Introduction to the Basics of School Choice
This guide will introduce you to the fundamentals of school choice and answer some basic questions about why and how these programs work. Publisher: EdChoice (2023)
EdChoice Study Guide: A Review of the Research on Private School Choice
This is an annually updated guide to the available research on private school choice programs in America. In this guide, you’ll learn what the body of rigorous research says about school choice’s effect on participant test scores, participant attainment parent satisfaction and more. Publisher: EdChoice (2024)
Part-Time Enrollment Policy Analysis
Part-time enrollment policy varies widely from state to state. This 12-state analysis seeks to highlight those differences and suggests a promising set of policy that can support both public schools and families. Publisher: ExcelinEd (2021)
The Warmth of Other Schools: Supporting Underrepresented Students in Private Schools
The goal of this report is to serve as a tool for school leaders who seek to foster inclusive, equitable, and mission-oriented environments for all students and families. Publisher: American Federation for Children (2021)
12 Myths and Realities about Private Educational Choice Programs
By Corey DeAngelis and Neil McCluskey
What the COVID-19 pandemic has made clear in education is that one size cannot fit all, and we must not try to force it. Publisher: Cato Institute (2020)
COVID-19 Has Made It Undeniable: We Need School Choice
By Neil McCluskey
The simple fact is all communities, families, and children are different, and they need educational options reflective of that diversity. Publisher: Cato Institute (2020)
Private School Choice: Myths v. Reality
There are many myths and misconceptions about private school choice programs. Despite the rhetoric, parents continue to demand school options and choose these programs to provide high quality educational opportunities for their children. Today, almost half a million students are enrolled in voucher, tax credit scholarship, and education savings account (ESA) programs nationwide. Below we address some common “myths” about these school choice programs. Publisher: American Federation for Children (2019)
A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice
By Greg Forster
This report surveys the empirical research on private school choice programs. It provides a thorough overview of what the research has found on five key topics: academic outcomes of choice participants, academic outcomes of public schools, fiscal impact on taxpayers and public schools, racial segregation in schools, civic values and practices. Publisher: EdChoice (2016)
Charter School Funding: Support for Students with Disabilities
By Cassidy Syftestad, Patrick J. Wolf, Wendy Tucker, Lauren Morando Rhim
The subject of public charter schools and students with disabilities is both important and sensitive. These students have the potential to benefit greatly from the smaller size and specialized focus of many public charter schools, but questions persist regarding whether all or even most charters are as receptive to enrolling students with disabilities as they are to serving students who do not have disabilities. Publisher: University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform (2021)
Teacher Effectiveness & Improvement in Charter and Traditional Public Schools
By Matthew P. Steinberg and Haisheng Yang
This study explores how teacher effectiveness varies and evolves across traditional and charter public schools, as well as within the sector’s CMOs and standalone schools. Publisher: Thomas Fordham Institute (2020)
The Effects of Charter Schools on Disciplinary Infractions in Traditional Public Schools: Evidence from Arkansas
By Thomas Snyder, Aaron Newell and Mavuto Kalulu
This study explores how teacher effectiveness varies and evolves across traditional and charter public schools, as well as within the sector’s CMOs and standalone schools. Publisher: Quarterly Review of Business Disciplines (2019)
Rising Tide: Charter School Market Share and Student Achievement
By David Griffith
This is a first-of-its-kind study that looks at the relationship between “charter market share” and the academic achievement of all students in a given community, including those in traditional public schools. Publisher: Thomas Fordham Institute (2019)
Arkansas Charter Schools: Myths and Facts
By Mavuto Kalulu
Debates about whether charter schools or traditional public schools are superior often contain inaccurate information. In the pages to follow, the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics examines some of the most common inaccuracies. Publisher: Arkansas Center for Research in Economics (2017)
Charter Schools’ Impact on Traditional Public School Performance: Evidence from Arkansas
By Mavuto Kalulu, Thomas Snyder and Saliou Ouattara
This study estimates the effects of open-enrollment charter schools on student performance in traditional public schools in Arkansas. Publisher: eJournal of Education Policy (2017)
The Public Benefit of Private Schooling: Test Scores Rise When There Is More of It
By Corey DeAngelis
This study examines the effect that increased access to private schooling has on international student test scores in 52 countries around the world. Notably, this study establishes causal relationships by comparing these countries to themselves over time while controlling for any fluctuations in gross domestic product, government expenditures, population, school enrollment, life expectancy, and infant mortality. Publisher: Cato Institute (2018)
Evaluation of Ohio’s EdChoice Scholarship Program: Selection, Competition, & Performance Effects
By David Figlio and Krzysztof Karbownik
This study utilizes the results from state tests—which all EdChoice students are required to take—to examine the vouchers’ effects on two groups of pupils. First, the study inspects the scores of public school students who were eligible for vouchers—but did not take one—in order to gauge the competitive effects of EdChoice (i.e., its impact on traditional public school students and their schools). Second, it examines the academic impact of EdChoice on those students who actually use the vouchers to attend private schools. Publisher: Thomas Fordham Institute (2016)
Education Freedom and Student Achievement: Is More School Choice Associated with Higher State-Level Performance on the NAEP?
By Patrick J. Wolf, Jay P. Greene, Matthew Ladner and James D. Paul
This study includes a comprehensive index of educational freedom that measures the availability and accessibility of private, charter, homeschool, and public school choice across the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia (DC), called the Education Freedom Index. Then, they studied the correlation between the 2021 EFI and student performance on the NAEP. Publisher: ScholarWorks@UARK (2021)
EdChoice Public Opinion Trackers
EdChoice surveys parents monthly on topics like funding, school performance, school choice, testing and more. (Click the button that reads “Download Monthly PDF” to get a summary of the latest findings.)
Survey of Likely 2020 General Election Voters, February 2020
Cygnal conducted live telephone interviews Feb. 18-20, 2020, talking about school choice, the Succeed Scholarship and general education.
Arkansas Statewide Parent Survey, January 2019
Gilmore Strategy Group conducted live telephone interviews Jan. 7-9, 2019, talking about school choice, the Succeed Scholarship and general education.
The Fiscal Effects of Private K-12 Educatoin Choice Programs in the United States
By Marty Lueken
From an analysis of 40 private educational choice programs in 19 states plus D.C., this report summarizes the facts and the evidence on the fiscal effects of educational choice programs across the United States. Publisher: edChoice (2021)
Robbers or Victims? Charter Schools and District Finances
By Mark Weber
Opponents of charters contend that they drain district coffers, while proponents argue that it is charters that are denied essential funding. Yet too often, the claims made by both sides of this debate have been based on assumptions rather than hard evidence. Publisher: Thomas Fordham Institute (2021)
Scholarship Tax Credits in Virginia: Net Fiscal Impact of Virginia’s Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program
This report provides a fiscal impact assessment of the Virginia Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program. Publisher: Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy (2021)
Do Charter Schools Harm Traditional Public Schools? Years of Test-Score Data Suggest They Don’t
By Marcus A. Winters
This report takes a more descriptive approach to the evidence on the relationship between charter schools and declines in public school quality. Publisher: Manhattan Institute (2020)
Distribution of Education Savings Accounts Usage Among Families: Evidence from the Florida Gardiner Program
By Michelle L. Lofton and Martin F. Lueken
Education savings accounts (ESAs) are education funding mechanisms that allow for families to receive a deposit of public funds to a government-authorized savings account. Using student-level longitudinal data, this paper examines how families participating in the Florida Gardiner Scholarship Program use education savings account funds. Publisher: EdChoice (2021)
The Untapped Potential of Expanded Tax Credit Scholarships
By Corey A. DeAngelis and Marc LeBlond
This study reviews the most rigorous evidence on school choice and student outcomes in the United States and estimates the economic impacts of expanding access to Pennsylvania’s K-12 tax credit scholarship programs by increasing the cap by $95 million in the 2021-22 school year. Publisher: Commonwealth Foundation (2021)
A Systematic Review of the Empirical Research on Selected Aspects of Homeschooling as a School Choice
By Brian D. Ray
This peer-reviewed article gives the demographic characteristics of the U.S. homeschooling population and the reasons that parents choose to homeschool, summarizes the findings of studies on the homeschool learner outcomes of academic achievement, social development, and success in adulthood, and proposes future research on parent-led home-based education. Publisher: National Home Education Research Institute (2019)
African American Homeschool Parents’ Motivations for Homeschooling and Their Black Children’s Academic Achievement
By Brian D. Ray
This study explores the motivations of African American parents for choosing homeschooling for their children and the academic achievement of their Black homeschool students. Publisher: National Home Education Research Institute (2015)
Surveying the Military: What America’s Servicemembers, Veterans, and Their Spouses Think About K-12 Education and the Profession
By Paul DiPerna, Lindsey M. Burke and Anne Ryland
This article shows the results from a 2017 multi-mode survey of 1,200 active-duty military servicemembers, veterans, and their spouses. The goal was to gain a better understanding of the view of military households and families toward K–12 education, especially regarding current developments in expanding educational options and access. Publisher: EdChoice (2017)
School Choice and School Safety
By Jude Schwalbach and Corey DeAngelis
This study examines the literature linking private and charter schooling to perceptions of student safety in United States schools. The results are generally null to positive for student, parent, and principal reports of school safety for the eight studies on safety in public charter schools and the eleven studies on safety in private schools. None of the existing studies find evidence to suggest that private or charter schools reduce
perceptions of school safety overall. Publisher: EdChoice (2020)
The Effects of School Choice on Mental Health
By Corey DeAngelis and Angela Davis
School choice allows families to choose schools that are more suited to their children. These choices may affect non-academic outcomes, including students’ mental health. This study empirically examines the relationship between school choice and mental health using two methods. Publisher: SSRN (2018)
Other Amazing Resources
The following organizations are powerful resources to utilize so that you have the data necessary to make an informed decision that may impact the future.
