National Center for Policy Analysis: History
Establishment of the Education Program
The NCPA became the first public policy institute to publish a report card on public schools based on results of student achievement exams. The NCPA also pioneered the concept of education tax credits – as an innovative alternative to a spending (voucher) system – to promote competition and choice. These findings led to many more informative studies on the U. S. educational system.
- An early NCPA study found that teacher salary is based on seniority and achievement of advanced degrees, not on successes in teaching students. In response to these incentives, the percentage of teachers with master's degrees increased by 83 percent over the past three decades while student test scores took a drastic downturn.
- Another NCPA study found that Texas’ public schools wasted one of every three resource dollars, and teachers in these schools spent more time complying with red tape than preparing lessons.
- Based on an NCPA task force report recommending school choice, NCPA board member Pat Rooney started a private school voucher program in Indianapolis for low-income families – a model that has spread to more than 30 cities.
- In 2001, the NCPA and Children First America published An Education Agenda: Let Parents Choose Their Children’s School, which provided policy-makers with a roadmap for comprehensive reform. A follow-up book, Ten Myths about School Choice, exposed the inaccuracies and distortions opponents use in campaigns against tax-funded school vouchers.
- The NCPA published a first-of-its-kind report card on public school performance in 1990, finding huge variations in test scores with no relation between spending per pupil and educational outcomes. A revised version of the report card in 2003 found that the best and worst schools are often found in the same neighborhoods. Also, schools may be more capable of teaching one population of students over another.