Indiana’s school choice program is one of the largest in the United States. Until now, little has been known about how this initiative to increase parents’ educational options for their children is affecting either the schools or the students.

Initial data from Indiana's School Choice Scholarship Program shows that many schools' decisions whether to participate in a school-choice policy are influenced by the policy's regulations and their expected impacts on school priorities. Therefore, solving voucher program implementation challenges requires more insight into the relationship between schools and a state's policy details, according to sociologist Megan Austin of the University of Notre Dame's Department of Sociology and Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO).

Megan’s paper “Sector Effects and Changes in School Composition: The Case of School Vouchers” was selected for its potential to positively impact Sociology of Education. The award is to be presented to Megan at the upcoming AERA 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 17^th.

"There is a need to look at the conditions under which schools are effective or not. This has implications for practice, whether at the policy level or what goes on inside schools."

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During an interview with WSBT news, Bill Carbonaro commented on the South Bend Community School Corporation's ISTEP scores.

A nearly $300,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation will support the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Research on Educational Opportunity (CREO) in a groundbreaking study of Indiana’s school voucher program.

CREO hosted the 2014 Midwest Sociology of Education Conference on October 16th and 17th.

“Crossroads of America: The Intersection of Research and Policy in the Indiana School Choice Ecosystem," an invitational conference intended to bridge the gap between research and policy on educational choice in the State of Indiana and across the United States.

Professor Berends will be joining the 2014 American Educational Research Association's Fellows in April.

With support from Professor Emeritus and former CREO Director Maureen Hallinan, CREO faculty members and graduate students attended the Midwest Sociology of Education Conference on November 7-8, 2013 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.