REACH Publications

The Effects of Universal School Vouchers on Private School Tuition and Enrollment: A National Analysis

September 11, 2025 | By Douglas N. Harris, Gabriel Olivier

Similar programs in states across the country have so far raised private school enrollment by 3-4%, but these modest gains mask bigger shifts ahead, including rising tuition and benefits flowing mainly to higher-income families and small, religious schools.

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All Entries (36)

The Role of Transportation in Systems of Choice: Lessons from New York City

December 19, 2025 | By Amy Ellen Schwartz, Sarah Cordes

School choice offers families a range of educational options, but transportation barriers often determine whether those options are truly accessible, particularly for families in low-income or low-density communities where distance can limit participation and equity. In three separate studies, a team of researchers examines how distance affects school choice decisions, student attendance and engagement during the transition to middle school, and whether access to transportation, such as school buses or transit subsidies, can mitigate these challenges and help school choice systems better deliver on their promise of expanded opportunity.

Do Middle Schoolers Undermatch in High School Choice? Evidence from a Merit-Based School Choice Admission System

December 18, 2025 | By Jane Arnold Lincove

School choice mechanisms are proposed as a remedy for inequalities created by the combination of residential segregation and geographically zoned school assignments, and a common alternative to geographically zoned schools is merit-based admissions to academically selective high schools. In this study, we investigate whether a similar form of undermatch occurs when middle schoolers apply to high schools in a citywide choice system. We focus our study in Baltimore City, where selective high school seats are allocated based on a single metric of middle school performance, and in this context we ask whether access to academically selective high schools is driven by student preferences or student performance.

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The Effect of Charter Schools on Identification, Service Provision, and Achievement of Students with Disabilities

December 18, 2025 | By Scott Imberman, Andrew Johnson

Students with disabilities (SWDs) encompass a sizable share of charter students and have an
array of individualized needs. Charter schools may operate differently than traditional public
schools with respect to SWDs and special education (SPED), as funding incentives may induce charter schools to underserve SWDs. Nonetheless, there is little empirical evidence regarding how enrollment in charter schools affects SWDs’ educational environments and outcomes. We use data from Michigan to estimate charter impacts using a heterogeneous difference-in-differences model that compares students who enter charters to students who have not yet but will eventually enter charters. We find that charters are slightly more likely to identify students as SWDs after charter entry. While assignments to SPED programs increase comparably, there is a significant reduction and subsequent reversion in time spent in SPED-specific environments and services provided. Despite these changes, SWDs realize achievement and attendance gains after charter entry at similar levels to non-SWDs.

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School Choice Enrollment Systems in Large U.S. Cities: Implications for Integration and Equitable Access

December 18, 2025 | By Jon Valant, Jane Arnold Lincove, Nicolas Zerbino

Many cities have adopted unified enrollment (UE) systems that centralize the school choice application and assignment process. We examine the proliferation of these systems in large U.S. cities, focusing on whether adopting UE affects integration or access. We use Callaway and Sant’Anna difference-in-differences (CSDID) models to test if UE implementation changes systemwide racial and ethnic segregation levels. We then use comparative interrupted time series (CITS) models to test if UE changes enrollment patterns in schools that were disproportionately White before UE. We find little evidence of immediate effects. However, over time, we see incremental reductions in segregation and increases in nonwhite enrollment in schools where these students had been underrepresented.

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Did COVID Affect Middle School Choice? Distance, Transportation and the Zoned School

September 19, 2025 | By Jeff Zabel, Samantha Trajkovski, Sarah Cordes, Amy Ellen Schwartz

COVID-19 negatively affected student performance and widened racial and socioeconomic disparities. School choice was seen as one way to reduce these gaps, but the pandemic may have limited families’ ability to travel, investigate, and attend schools outside their community.

This study examines middle school choices of 6th grade students in New York City before and after COVID. After schools reopened, students traveled slightly farther and enrolled in a wider variety of schools. Most school characteristics influenced choices in similar ways before and after the pandemic, with one key change: eligibility for school busing significantly increased the probability of enrollment at both zoned and choice/charter schools.

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The Effects of Universal School Vouchers on Private School Tuition and Enrollment: A National Analysis

September 11, 2025 | By Douglas N. Harris, Gabriel Olivier

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Michigan Teacher Licensure, Retention, and Effectiveness During the COVID-19 Pandemic

August 06, 2025 | By Matthew Guzman, Tara Kilbride, Salem Rogers, Katharine O. Strunk

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan temporarily adjusted teacher licensure and student teaching requirements to avoid staffing shortages. This study explores how those changes affected teacher supply, diversity, retention, and effectiveness. While the overall number of new teachers was maintained, the 2020–21 cohort was more diverse, even among certification types not impacted by the policy. Teachers with temporary certificates performed similarly to those with standard ones, though modified student teaching experiences may have more strongly affected special education teachers.

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How Transportation Shapes School Choice: Evidence from Baltimore City Public Schools

July 06, 2025 | By Julia Burdick-Will, Marc Stein

Baltimore’s system of school choice requires students and families to select their high schools rather than be assigned one based on where they live. While this system provides flexibility, challenges related to distance and commuting remain, especially for those students who rely on public transportation to get to school. This study uses major changes to the bus system over time to examine the effect of commuting difficulty on school choice.

This study was was published in Social Science Research in May of 2025.

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The Double Burden of School Choice

April 23, 2025 | By Huriya Jabbar, Hanora Tracy, Emily Germain, Sarah Lenhoff, Jacob Alonso, Shira Haderlein

This study examines how the administrative demands of school choice—such as researching options, navigating systems, and completing applications—create obstacles for families. Drawing on interviews and focus groups with parents in Louisiana, Colorado, and Michigan, the researchers highlight the psychological toll of these processes.

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The Segregation Paradox in School Choice

April 03, 2025 | By Danielle Sanderson Edwards, Kaitlin Anderson

This study examines how school choice policies impact racial and economic segregation in Michigan. Using student data from 2009-2019, it analyzes the effects of inter-district and charter school enrollment on segregation patterns across the state.

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