EDUCATION FREEDOM AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT - IS MORE SCHOOL CHOICE ASSOCIATED WITH HIGHER STATE-LEVEL PERFORMANCE ON THE NAEP?

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel

Analyzes whether greater educational freedom, particularly school choice, relates to state-level learning outcomes on the NAEP. Builds a 2021 Education Freedom Index (EFI) measuring the availability and accessibility of private, charter, homeschool, and public school choice across U.S. states and DC. Reports that higher EFI levels show significant associations with higher NAEP achievement and larger NAEP achievement gains across statistical models while controlling for state conditions such as spending, demographics, prior NAEP scores, teacher quality, and regulation of parental choice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages38

Reading Time1 h 36 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background on educational freedom and school choice

The Education Freedom Index (EFI)

Statistical analysis and controls

Findings on NAEP achievement relationships

Conclusion and implications

Education Freedom and Student Achievement: Is More School Choice ASsociatedwith Higher State-Level Performanceon the NAEP? Patrick J.WolfJay P.GreeneMatthew LadnerJames D.PaulMarch 2021 Education Freedom and Student Achievement:Is More School ChoiceAssociated with Higher State-Level Performance on the NAEP? Patrick J.WolfJay P.GreeneMatthew LadnerJames D.Paul March 2021 School Choice Demonstration ProjectDepartment of Education ReformUniversity of Arkansas201 Graduate Education BuildingFayetteville,AR 72701 https://scdp.uark.edu/education-freedom-and-naep-scores.pdf The University of Arkansas wasfounded in1871as theflagshipinstitution of higher education forthe state of Arkansas.Establishedas a land grant university,itsmandate was threefold:to teachstudents,conduct research,andperform service and outreach. The College of Education and Health Professions established the Department of EducationReform in 2005.The department's mission is to advance education and economicdevelopment by focusing on the improvement of academic achievement in elementaryand secondary schools.It conducts research and demonstration projects in five primaryareas of reform:teacher quality,leadership,policy,accountability,and school choice. The School Choice Demonstration Project(SCDP),based within the Department ofEducation Reform,is an education research center devoted to the non-partisan studyof the effects of school choice policy and is staffed by leading school choice researchersand scholars.Led by Dr.Patrick J.Wolf,Distinguished Professor of Education Reformand Endowed 21st Century Chair in School Choice,SCDP's national team of researchers,institutional research partners and staff are devoted to the rigorous evaluation of schoolchoice programs and other school improvement efforts across the country.The SCDPis committed to raising and advancing the public's understanding of the strengths andlimitations of school choice policies and programs by conducting comprehensive researchon what happens to students,families,schools,and communities when more parents areallowed to choose their child's school. Education Freedom and Student Achievement:Is More School ChoiceAssociated with Higher State-Level Performance on the NAEP? # Introduction What do these twotrends signal?Is greatereducational freedomfailing to contributeto learning gains forstudents?Might otherpopular education reformsbe more effective than schoolchoice at raising student testscores across the country?While it is impossible todetermine the causal effecton student achievement ofall the deliberate decisions ofstate policymakers to expandor restrict the various forms of In this study we constructa comprehensve index ofeducational freedom that Acknowledgements This report was made possible by support from the American Federationfor Children (AFC)Growth Fund.We thank Kathleen Wolf for editorialassistance and Marlo Crandall for graphic design and formatting support.The opinions expressed in this report are entirely those of the authorsand do not necessarily represent the views of the AFC Growth Fund,theUniversity of Arkansas,or the University of Arkansas System. School choice is on the rise in many states.Since the start of the new millennium,many stateshave launched or expanded private school choice options,permitted and expanded independentlyoperated public charter schools,eased restrictions on homeschooling,and enacted policies thatallow and encourage various forms of public school choice.One thing that is not on the rise,unfortunately,is average student scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress(NAEP).Student performance on the assessments,typically called"The Nation's Report Card,"were flat from2001 until 2015 and have dropped slightly in both 2017 and 2019. We find that higher levels of education freedomare significantly associated with higherNAEP achievement levels and higher NAEPachievement gains in all our statistical models. measures the av

FAQs

What question does the report investigate about school choice?

It examines whether higher educational freedom and school choice are associated with higher state-level performance on the NAEP.

How does the report measure educational freedom?

It constructs the 2021 Education Freedom Index (EFI), covering the availability and accessibility of private, charter, homeschool, and public school choice across the 50 states plus DC.

What do the report’s statistical results show?

Higher EFI levels are significantly associated with higher NAEP achievement levels and higher NAEP achievement gains across the statistical models.

Which factors are controlled for when analyzing the relationship with NAEP?

The models control for state-level conditions such as per-pupil expenditures, student-teacher ratios, median household incomes, student demographics, previous NAEP scores, teacher quality, and the regulation of private and charter parental choice.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Angel