Philip Vassallo's 2000 study for the Cato Institute, More Than Grades: How School Choice Boosts Parental Involvement and Benefits Children, continues to serve as a key source in the school choice debate. It has been widely cited in publications arguing that meaningful parental involvement, which is an indispensable component to a successful public education program, is more likely to occur in schools which parents choose for their children.
Most recently, More Than Grades was cited in A School Voucher Program for Baltimore City, a 2005 report by Dan Lips, a Senior Fellow of Education Policy Studies with the Maryland Public Policy Institute and the Goldwater Institute. The Lips report, jointly published by Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and the Maryland Public Policy Institute, agrees with the Vassallo study in noting "parents able to choose their child’sschool were happier than those parents who were unable to choose their child’s school."
Here are the links to both reports:
More Than Grades: How Choice Boosts Parental Involvement and Benefits Children by Philip Vassallo: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa383.pdf
A School Voucher Program for Baltimore City by Dan Lips: mdpolicy.org/research/education/BaltimoreVoucherStudy.pdf
