Friedman or Jencks? Early childhood education vouchers in practice

Abstract

Market-based educational reforms, including vouchers, have been a highly contested topic in education policymaking over the last three decades. Vouchers have been used in practice to promote educational choice and student success by facilitating “free” market competition and eliminating the monopolistic privileges of public schools. Nonetheless, market-based reforms, particularly education vouchers, are not commonly used in early childhood education (ECE). This article examines the arguments for and against market-based education reforms and education vouchers and provides a brief overview of five voucher programs that aimed to improve ECE delivery. Comparisons of these programs demonstrate that neither Friedman’s liberal market nor Jencks’ social policy approaches are definitively superior to one another. The effectiveness of an ECE voucher program depends on the specifics of the policy text and the context in which it is introduced.