Goldwater Institute

This study of charter school parents is the first in a series to be conducted by the Goldwater Institute with the assistance of many supporters, most notably, the Dial Corp., Motorola Inc., and Bank of America. This body of research provides fresh insights into who attends charter schools and why. Until now, no statewide survey of charter schools had been undertaken. Several case studies and limited surveys have been conducted, but this is the first major progress toward developing population parameters for charter schools. The Goldwater Institute study also reveals information about charter schools that is contrary to popular opinion and may have considerable impact on future study and development of charter schools.

No issue elicits more intensity, passion and emotion, yet generates so little honest discussion, as the question of how to address child abuse and neglect. Statistics and statements used to justify government programs that would be examined, analyzed and scrutinized anywhere else are considered untouchable here.

The Arizona School Choice Trust (ASCT) is a non-profit, privately funded program (modeled after one developed by the Golden Rule Insurance Company in Indianapolis) that awards grants covering half of private school tuition, up to $800, to children in Maricopa County. Families must meet the income requirements of the National School Lunch Program.

The Goldwater Institute has long promoted reforms that will result in a more open, market-driven, decentralized approach to public education. Such an approach, of course, assumes a model for school finance that is dramatically different than what we have today.

In this paper we study the prospect of improving student by lowering class size at the Kindergarten through third grade levels. Class size is often cited as a primary factor in student achievement; a student teacher ration of fifteen to one is often thought to be ideal. However, smaller classes and improved performance are primarily linked by conventional wisdom. We present and summarize evidence that this conventional wisdom is faulty.