School Choice and Academic Performance: Some Evidence From Developing Countries

Validation and effect of demographic variables on perceived quality of life by adolescents

“…These results reinforce the advantages of private schools which were earlier quoted in the Assessment Survey Evaluation Research Center (Wadhwa, 2009). The better perceived quality of life by private school adolescents could be because of the advantageous characteristics of private schools such as lower pupil-teacher ratio, demographic characteristics of adolescents attending private schools, higher teacher attendance and activity (Goyal and Pandey, 2009) and better academic performance by students (Goyal, 2007;Tooley et al, 2011;Dixon, 2003, 2006). However, a contradictory finding that no effect of school on student's well-being was reported (Saab and Klinger, 2010).…”

School Choice and Educational Inequality in South Korea

“…Numerous studies have been conducted to address these issues, but empirical work has focused mostly on Western countries. Although a growing number of studies have investigated the choice issue in non-Western countries (e.g., Constant et al, 2010; Tooley et al, 2011), we still know too little about the choice debate, subsequent reform, and its consequences in these countries. In this study, we have attempted to address this research gap by examining Korea's choice debate centering on the HSEP and investigating how this random school assignment policy shapes educational equality.…”

“…However, much research on school choice still focuses on Western countries, most notably the United States. Although choice issues in non-Western countries have been increasingly investigated in recent years (Constant et al, 2010; Tooley, Bao, Dixon, & Merrifield, 2011), much remains to be investigated about educational contexts in which choice debates take place, types of choice reform emerging, and the impact that choice reform has on educational achievement and equality in non-Western countries. Thus, an important way of extending the school choice literature is to examine choice policies and their impact in non-Western countries.…”

Commentary on Reviews of James Tooley'sThe Beautiful Treeand Tooley's Reply

“…I certainly wouldn't have said such a thing; perhaps I said something along the lines that the teachers in low-cost private schools achieve far more with their children than the highly qualified teachers in the government schools. I stand by such an assertion, borne out by my research, including the lead article in this issue of Journal of School Choice (Tooley, Bao, Dixon, & Merrifield, 2011). It uses scientifically rigorous controls to demonstrate that private schools, recognized and unrecognized, produce significantly superior results with fewer resources per pupil than state-provided schooling.…”