Vouching for Achievement
A new study shows higher test scores for students using vouchers.
ENLARGE
Photo: Getty Images/Ikon Images
May 26, 2016 6:13 p.m. ET
Six decades after Milton Friedman proposed school vouchers, the Nobel Prize-winning economist is winning the argument on the policy results if not always on the politics.
Today 26 states and the District of Columbia have some private school choice program, and the trend is for more: Half of the programs have been established in the past five years. That hasn’t stopped opponents from arguing there’s no proof vouchers help students learn. But a new study from the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas shows otherwise.
The study’s most important news is that voucher students show “statistically significant” improvement in math and reading test scores. The researchers found that vouchers on average increase the reading scores of students who get them by about 0.27 standard deviations and their math scores by about 0.15 standard deviations. In laymen’s terms, this means that on average voucher students enjoy the equivalent of several months of additional learning compared to non-voucher students.
The researchers looked at 19 studies covering 11 voucher programs from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Delhi, India. The authors chose the 19 because they met the criteria for the “gold standard” of program evaluation, with both a “treatment group” (the voucher kids) and a “control group” (the non-voucher kids). “When you do the math, students achieve more when they have access to private school choice,” says Patrick J. Wolf, who conducted the study with M. Danish Shakeel and Kaitlin P. Anderson.
Other studies have also reported vouchers leading to better scores. The teachers unions and their allies typically reply that voucher kids do better because they have more motivated parents.
But this claim doesn’t wash here. The three authors compared students who had vouchers to students who applied for vouchers but didn’t get them. In other words, this was an apples to apples comparison. By the usual definition, both sets of kids had motivated parents. The kids with vouchers still did better. The researchers also found that while the gains in the early years are small, achievement surges after a child has been in a voucher program for a few years. This is in contrast to Head Start, the federal pre-school program, whose early gains fade over time.
Beyond higher achievement, the study also found that voucher programs in developing countries tended to report better results than voucher programs in the U.S. Publicly funded voucher programs produced better results than privately funded scholarships. It’s not clear why, but the authors speculate it may be because the publicly funded vouchers cover a larger share of the costs of attending the private schools.
The Arkansas results aren’t likely to change union minds because vouchers are a mortal threat to their public-school monopoly. But for anyone who cares about how much kids learn, especially the poorest kids, the Arkansas study is welcome news that school choice delivers.
A new study shows higher test scores for students using vouchers.
Photo: Getty Images/Ikon Images
May 26, 2016 6:13 p.m. ET
Six decades after Milton Friedman proposed school vouchers, the Nobel Prize-winning economist is winning the argument on the policy results if not always on the politics.
Today 26 states and the District of Columbia have some private school choice program, and the trend is for more: Half of the programs have been established in the past five years. That hasn’t stopped opponents from arguing there’s no proof vouchers help students learn. But a new study from the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas shows otherwise.
The study’s most important news is that voucher students show “statistically significant” improvement in math and reading test scores. The researchers found that vouchers on average increase the reading scores of students who get them by about 0.27 standard deviations and their math scores by about 0.15 standard deviations. In laymen’s terms, this means that on average voucher students enjoy the equivalent of several months of additional learning compared to non-voucher students.
The researchers looked at 19 studies covering 11 voucher programs from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Delhi, India. The authors chose the 19 because they met the criteria for the “gold standard” of program evaluation, with both a “treatment group” (the voucher kids) and a “control group” (the non-voucher kids). “When you do the math, students achieve more when they have access to private school choice,” says Patrick J. Wolf, who conducted the study with M. Danish Shakeel and Kaitlin P. Anderson.
Other studies have also reported vouchers leading to better scores. The teachers unions and their allies typically reply that voucher kids do better because they have more motivated parents.
But this claim doesn’t wash here. The three authors compared students who had vouchers to students who applied for vouchers but didn’t get them. In other words, this was an apples to apples comparison. By the usual definition, both sets of kids had motivated parents. The kids with vouchers still did better. The researchers also found that while the gains in the early years are small, achievement surges after a child has been in a voucher program for a few years. This is in contrast to Head Start, the federal pre-school program, whose early gains fade over time.
Beyond higher achievement, the study also found that voucher programs in developing countries tended to report better results than voucher programs in the U.S. Publicly funded voucher programs produced better results than privately funded scholarships. It’s not clear why, but the authors speculate it may be because the publicly funded vouchers cover a larger share of the costs of attending the private schools.
The Arkansas results aren’t likely to change union minds because vouchers are a mortal threat to their public-school monopoly. But for anyone who cares about how much kids learn, especially the poorest kids, the Arkansas study is welcome news that school choice delivers.
