Using THE METHOD to analyze texts (THE MODEL)

MLA (8) citation: 

Turner, Cory. “School Vouchers 101: What They Are, How They Work - And Do They Work?” NPR, NPR, 7 Dec. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/12/07/504451460/school-choice-101-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-does-it-work. Accessed 8 Mar. 2017.

Use The Method to help you “control in condensed form a wealth of information.”  

Apply "The Method" to the text.

Step 1:  Locate exact repetitions—identical or nearly identical words or details—and note the number of times each repeats (x 3, for example).	School choice:              7 Civil rights:                   2 Voucher:                      16 Federal:                         5 State:                             7 Research / evidence:     5 Money (variations):      10 Low-income:                 4 Race:                             3
Step 2:  Locate repetitions of the same or similar kind of detail or word—which we call strands—and name the connecting logic (comparison, cause and effect, classification and division, etc.)	Money / Federal / State:  Classification and division Voucher / School choice:  Definition Low-income / Race / Voucher:  Cause and effect Research-evidence/ School choice / Voucher:  Analysis
Step 3:  Locate details or words that form or suggest binary oppositions, and select from these the most important ones, which function as organizing contrasts.	Idea of school choice (voucher) / Funding Vouchers  / State and Federal laws Research / Voucher system
Step 4:  Rank the data within your lists to isolate what you take to be the most important repetitions, strands, and binaries.  Then write a paragraph—half a page or so—in which you explain your choice of one repetition or one strand or one binary as central to understanding whatever you have been observing.	One of the most important binaries is that of school choice VS funding. According to the article, “Trump has pitched repurposing $20 billion in federal education dollars, distributing them to states as block grants. States can then pass the money on, as vouchers, to the nation's 11 million students who live in poverty…Trump has said he wants parents to be able to use these vouchers at the school of their choice, even if that school is private and/or religiously affiliated.” Many questions remain:  where will students go, if not to a private / religiously affiliated school?  Public schools have finite resources and space, not to mention teaching staff.  The idea of “choosing” a religiously affiliated school seems to fly in the face of the separation of church and state.  And what will happen to schools where students are leaving to attend other schools?  Will they be able to stay open?  There is much tension with this binary.
Step 5:  Search for anomalies—data that do not seem to fit any of the dominant patterns.	None.
Observations--- Ask "SO WHAT?"— these are the IMPLICATIONS:	The article, while from NPR and relatively unbiased, does imply that the Federal government cannot cover the costs of school choice.  States cannot make up the difference as they are still trying to recover from the Recession.
Implications--- Ask "SO WHAT?" again— these are your CONCLUSIONS	The voucher system will not work and should not be attempted in its current state, if at all. The research cited in the article from the Rand Institute, Micah Wixom, Josh Cunningham, and the Center on Education Policy supports this.