Essays on Education Policy

Abstract

Many education policies are broadly implemented to have a positive impact on equity of opportunity for all students. However well-intentioned, these policies sometimes lead to unintended consequences. This dissertation uses state and local administrative data to explore the implications of policies intended to serve equity by expanding school choice and improving access to college. In the first chapter, I examine the extent to which a free opportunity to retake the ACT in Tennessee increased ACT scores and college enrollment and find that ACT scores and college enrollment have not improved because of the policy. The second chapter explores how the expansion of charter schools in Texas impacts district students and finds that district achievement has slightly improved in response to charter sector competition, but that results may depend on the methods implemented by the researcher and researchers should use caution when making methodological decisions. In the third chapter, I measure the fiscal impact of the charter sector on district students in Memphis and Nashville and find that students may experience a reduction in services of approximately $1000 per pupil due to funds being redistributed to the charter sector. Taken together, these chapters speak to the importance of interrogating unintended consequences of well-meaning education policies.