The debate over school choice typically is over whether students who attend public or private schools have higher test scores. That issue may provide only limited information about the effects of school choice as public and private school students take different tests and study different curricula, test scores can be manipulated, test scores do not measure all aspects of education, etc. Nevertheless, the research shows that school choice either raises test scores or has no effect on test scores for students who exercise choice and for students who remain in a local public school.

Newer research, however, has begun to look at a broader array of student outcomes, including criminal and other bad behavior by students. Specifically, researchers are beginning to analyze a new question: 

Are students who are able to exercise school choice more likely to be better behaved and less likely to engage in criminal and other bad behaviors than similar students who were not able to exercise school choice?  

A recent Harvard University study of public school choice in the Charlotte-Mecklenberg (North Carolina) school district found that school choice led to large decreases in criminal and other bad behavior by students who won a lottery that allowed them to choose a public school different from their neighborhood public school.  The author of the study, Harvard education professor David J. Deming writes,

I find consistent evidence that attending a better school reduces crime among those age 16 and older, across various schools, and for both middle and high school students. The effect is largest for African American males and youth who are at highest risk for criminal involvement. In general, high-risk male youth commit about 50 percent less crime as a result of winning the school-choice lottery. They are also more likely to remain enrolled in school, and they show modest improvements on measures of behavior such as absences and suspensions. Yet there is no detectable impact on test scores for any youth in the sample.

Deming’s study used the gold standard of social science research—randomization—to ensure that his study compared apples to apples. That is, Deming compared the behavior of students who won the lottery and were therefore able to exercise school choice to demographically similar students who applied to exercise school choice but did not win the lottery and had to attend their local neighborhood school.

This Harvard study comes on the heels of two other studies that look at a broader array of outcomes for students, charter schools in Milwaukee and vouchers in Washington, D.C. Both of these two other studies found that students who exercised choice were able to leave unsafe schools and move to schools with more disciplined and safe environments. Links to the Harvard University study and the studies of school choice in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. can be found here: http://blog.heritage.org/2012/03/12/school-choice-increases-student-safety/

Not only does school choice have academic benefits for students, it also promotes good behavior, reduces crime, and allows students to attend schools in safer environments.