Journal of School Choice

Paideia and Policy: Classical Education and School Choice

Though in practice the term “classical education” is somewhat contested, Williams (2022) suggests that “contemporary classical education is an attempt to recover and continue the long liberal arts tradition that began with the Greeks, Romans, and early Christians, but which was overwhelmed by dominant twentieth century paradigms.” Diener (2024), also observing classical education’s grounding in a tradition, has additionally articulated several hallmarks of classical education including an assumption about the givenness of reality and a corresponding focus on forming students in wisdom and virtue. Classical education accomplishes these aims through engagement in “the elevated purpose of bringing children into communion with the best that has been thought and written” to provide not just sustenance, but meaning and joy (McNamara & Baxendale, 2026). This sharply contrasts the administrative progressive social utility approaches which have dominated public education since the early 20th century (Labaree, 2004).

The classical education movement has seen substantial growth in recent years (Arcadia Education, 2024; Cheng & Syftestad, 2023, Mahnken, 2023; Meadowcroft, 2023). Many new classical schools have been founded, and membership organizations, publishers, and other groups devoted to classical education, in the homeschooling, private, and public sectors, have grown substantially. This growth has variously been called a “renaissance” (Hankins, 2022), and an “explosion” (Hankins, 2021), fueled in part by school choice policies giving parents and teachers more of what they want. In economic terms, many organizations devoted to classical education have seen their annual revenues climb significantly over the last decade (Wearne, 2026).

There is also some empirical evidence of the pedagogical value of classical education (Cheng et al, 2026; Buck, 2024; Huang & White, 2023; Goodwin & Sikkink, 2020; Vaughan, 2019), but otherwise it has yet to receive much empirical research attention. Accordingly, we invite submissions for a special issue of the Journal of School Choice examining various aspects of classical education, tentatively to be published in 2027, with a possible book to follow. Please submit your article to the journal at Taylor & Francis and mention in your cover letter that this submission is for the special issue on Classical Education.

References

Arcadia Education (2024). Market analysis of U.S. classical education in grades PK-12. Phoenix: Arcadia Education.

Buck, D. (2024 June 20). Is classical education research-based? Thomas B. Fordham Institute. Retrieved from https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/classical-education-research-based.

Cheng, A., Polk, B., Musser, S., & Guan, K. (2026). The thriving students study. Richmond: The Society for Classical Learning.

Cheng, Albert, and Christian Syftestad. 2023. “The Demand of Texas Parents for Classical Charter Schools.” Texas Public Policy Foundation. 2023. https://www.texaspolicy.com/the-demand-oftexas-parents-for-classical-charter-schools/.

Diener, D. (2024). The Principles of Classical Education. Principia: A Journal of Classical Education.

Goodwin, D., & Sikkink, D. (2020). Good soil: A comparative study of ACCS alumni life outcomes. Eagle, ID: The Classical Difference, The Association of Classical Christian Schools.

Hankins, James. 2022. “The Renaissance of the Classical School.” First Things. Retrieved from: https://firstthings.com/the-renaissance-of-the-classical-school/

Hankins, James. 2021. “Edexit: We Shouldn’t Let the Education Crisis Go to Waste.” Law & Liberty. Retrieved from: https://lawliberty.org/edexit-we-shouldnt-let-the-education-crisis-go-to-waste/

Huang, L., & White, J. (2023). Exploring Charter School Innovation: A Comparison of Popular Charter School Models. Journal of School Choice, 17(3), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/15582159.2023.2233321

Labaree, D. F. (2004). The Ed School’s Romance with Progressivism. Pp. 89-112 in D. Ravitch ed. Brookings Papers on Education Policy. Washington: Brookings Institution.

McNamara, C. & Baxendale, H. (2026 March 12). Pitching a broad tent in the sun. ON Classical Education. Retrieved from: https://classicaled.substack.com/p/pitching-a-broad-tent-in-the-sun.

Mahnken, Kevin. 2023. “Amid the Pandemic, a Classical Education Boom: What If the Next Big School Trend Is 2,500 Years Old?” The74, March 22, 2023. https://www.the74million.org/article/ amid-the-pandemic-a-classical-education-boom-what-if-the-next-big-school-trend-is-2500-yearsold/.

Meadowcroft, Micah. 2023. “Classical Education’s Aristocracy of Anyone.” National Affairs, Autumn 2023. https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/classical-educations-aristocracyof-anyone.

Vaughan, C. A. (2019). Differences of mean scores on the preliminary scholastic aptitude test (PSAT) for classical Christian schools compared to non-classical Christian schools. Journal of Research on Christian Education, 28(3), 286-308.

Wearne, Eric. 2026. “Renewal, Revenues, and Rationales: A Survey of Views on ‘Classical Education.’” Journal of Markets & Morality 28 (1).

Williams, Brian A. 2022. “Introducing Principia and Classical Education.” Principia: A Journal of Classical Education 1 (1): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.5840/principia202211/21.