Prometheus 6

Vouching for Vouchers
A Senate hearing offers good reasons for preserving the District's education experiment.

The hearing, convened by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), was part of a last-ditch effort to save the federally funded program that gives D.C. low-income students vouchers of up to $7,500 to attend private schools. Congressional Democrats, backed by the powerful teachers unions, included language in the recent omnibus budget bill that would end the program in 2010. Mr. Obama has proposed letting the 1,700 students now in the program continue their schooling while admitting no new students and letting the program die by attrition. We are glad that Mr. Obama is protecting the interests of participating students, but, as Mr. Lieberman argued, if the program is working, why not continue it so more children can benefit?

Because...and I realize I tread on the Holiest of Holies here...they are not working.

The New York City Voucher Experiment is probably the largest-scale, most rigorous look at what happens when lower-income children get better options for schooling.

• Low-income students entered a randomized draw to win vouchers to the private school of their choice.
• Students who won the draw mostly (75%) enrolled in private schools of their choice.
• Students who didn’t mostly (89%) stayed in public school.
• Both sets of students were followed for several years.

Satisfaction surveys showed that families found the private schools to be far better than the public schools.

But there was barely any difference in academic performance....

Different scholars disagree on the full details of what the study shows – some believe a small effect was shown specifically for African-American children and some do not – but the widespread agreement is that any effects of vouchers were very small, if they were present at all.

Similar studies have shown similar results (you can read more at our discussion of voucher studies).

Next time you’re thinking of giving to a tutoring program, ask whether a tutor can possibly help a child as much as changing their school – which doesn’t necessarily seem to help much at all.