School vouchers fail yet another test
School vouchers haven’t had any luck at all lately. Voters in Utah, expected to be rather conservative, overwhelmingly rejected a statewide ballot referendum on vouchers in November. A report by the Government Accountability Office showed DC’s voucher system, mandated by Bush and congressional Republicans, coming up short. The president touted a voucher plan in his State of the Union address, which was DOA in Congress.
And now, yet another setback for voucher proponents, as a new study of the Milwaukee system found that students who receive vouchers to go to private schools don’t do any better academically than those “stuck” in public schools.
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) gives over 18,000 low-to-moderate-income students up to $6,501 to attend one of 120 participating schools. The Wisconsin legislature predicts the program will cost taxpayers $120 million this school year.
So, do voucher supporters have a leg to stand on? Do vouchers improve students’ academic performance?
The new study’s comparative analysis of standardized tests scores suggests not. The data show that children who transfer to private schools using MPCP vouchers fare no better than their peers who stay behind in so-called “failing” schools.
“The baseline results indicate,” reports the study, “that MPCP students in grades 3 to 5 are currently scoring slightly lower on the math and reading portions of the [state scholastic aptitude test] than their [public school] counterparts.” Results from students in grades 6-9 were statistically equal.
Got that? Younger kids who have taxpayers financing their private school tuition did slightly worse than those kids in the mean, nasty “failing” public schools.
These aren’t the kind of results that’ll end up in the pro-voucher literature.
The whole point of vouchers, according to supporters, is that students will be removed from schools run by teachers’ unions and suddenly excel in private schools, most of which are run by religious ministries. Constitutional arguments about taxpayers being forced to finance religion aside, proponents make a simple case: private schools will simply outperform their public counterparts.
Except, of course, that doesn’t happen. The Wisconsin results are in line with the rest of the data we’ve seen.
* PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS PERFORM THE SAME IF NOT BETTER THAN PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENTS IN MATH: In a comparative analysis, “the average for public schools was significantly higher than the average for private schools for grade 4 mathematics and not significantly different for reading. At grade 8, the average for private schools was significantly higher than the average for public schools in reading but not significantly different for mathematics.” [NCES, 2006]
* PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS PERFORM THE SAME IF NOT BETTER THAN RELIGIOUS SCHOOL STUDENTS: In a 2006 comparative analysis, the average adjusted school mean for Conservative Christian schools “in reading was not significantly different from that of public schools. In mathematics, the average adjusted school mean for Conservative Christian schools was significantly lower than that of public schools.” [NCES, 2006]
* VOUCHERS DO NOT LEAD TO SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT GAINS: A 2002 study, “which examined privately funded voucher programs, found no significant achievement gains for students using vouchers versus students in public schools.” [GAO, 2002]
I get the sense voucher supporters are running out of arguments.
Do vouchers improve students’ academic performance?
An alternative question is, Do vouchers improve students’ odds of survival?
I get the sense voucher supporters are running out of arguments.
This is predicated on the notion that the reason to have vouchers is to improve student performance, not beat up on teachers’ unions, fund religious schools under the table, pay off eduprenurial campaign contributors, or shovel baksheesh to inner-city pastors and others to get their otherwise reliably Democratic parishoners to see the light at the ballot box.
Of course here in Wisconsin the new pro voucher line is “See vouchers do work! Voucher students are performing as well as public schools. We need to expand the program.” Yes, it’s a crock, it’s disingenuous, and misleading but that’s the way wingnuts do things.
I’m surprised Repubs went with this whole “vouchers” business in the first place. All that had to do was reframe public education as “socialized education” and make it unpatriotic to pay school taxes.
The Freidman/Neocon school of voodoo economics considers any deviation from privatization, deregulation and reduction in social spending anathema. Championing school vouchers is not about education. It is about the privatization of our education system. Diverting students to Tali-fundy schools accomplishes this. If you can bash unions and gain right wing votes in the process, what’s not to like? The push for vouchers is not going away.
One thing I never see discussed is the issue of transportation costs and availability. Let’s say your kid gets a voucher. But you have to get that kid to the school and back every day, and that will cost more money than if she just hopped the schoolbus or walked to the local public school. Now take all that (wasted) money (which will go nowhere but up as oil runs out). What would be the results if you invested that money in better teachers, schools, etc.
Unless the total costs of private schools are compared with an equal expenditure in the public schools, you don’t have a fair comparison.
See what I mean?
Question for everyone:
Where are the best grade schools in the world?
Where are the bet high schools in the world?
Where are the best colleges in the world?
I would guess that at least 80 of the best 100 colleges in the world are in the US.
Why do have such poor to average grade schools and high schools and the best colleges in the world?
Am I wrong here? I thought private schools were not required to give the NCLB tests. If true, how do they measure the difference? And could it be that vouchers are to some degree being used to weed out those students that will bring the public schools’ performances down?
I would support vouchers in DC with greater oversight, because some schools like Gonzaga that they can actually afford to go with voucher help make sure these kids get an education.
But vouchers can’t work without oversight, especially if they just give the kid the opportunity to go another school that won’t give them an education. Since the voucher program as envisioned by Bush is simply a corporate giveaway to his buddies…
If you look at a city like DC, where the vast majority of schools are failing and exorbitant amounts of money are thrown at the problem to no avail, you have to consider other options. It’s profoundly disappointing that the current voucher program isn’t one but I wonder if it could be under a Democratic administration.
It would help if some of those elite private schools (like Sidwell, which has a picture of Karl Marx in their history department even as they charge tuition rates comparable to a state university) were more accessible and affordable.
speaking as a public school teacher (special ed) who works on the west side of chicago, school voucher proponents will, alas, NEVER run out of arguements.
remember, conservativism can never fail. it can only be failed by conservatives who chicken out.
Certainly the voucher programs aren’t perfect and with the current crop of private schools being mainly religious schools there isn’t much choice. It seems like the answer is trying to create more small charter schools to provide more diversity and choice in the community. I don’t see any other working solution. Money doesn’t seem to help, standardized testing has proven to be a complete failure. Vouchers may not work immediatly but they at least provide incentive for a larger diversity in type and size of schools. I’m not sure I would frame it as a secular versus religious argument, that’s the way it is now because so far only well off religious people put their kids in private school. After a few years I think you’ll see more small focused schools start up that will meet the diversity of needs that’s required now.
CB, there’s a problem with the report. If I go to the UArk link:
http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/SCDP/Research.html
…and then follow the report summary data, Table 6 on page 12 of the summary displays the following information:
For MPCP (Milwaukee Parental Choice Program) students in Grade 4, the reading/Math/Science “mean scores” are 442/423/270 (respectively), and the MPS (Milwaukee Public Schools) students show a mean of 442/428/272. Simple comparison shows that in Grade 4, both groups score the same in Reading, and MPS students outscore in Math by 5 points and in Science by 2 points.
But—when we move up to the Grade 8 scores (same table), the MPCP students score a mean set of 509/512/376, with MPS students scoring a mean set of 481/491/353.
That would put the “voucher kids” with a mean score in Reading that’s 28 points better than Milwaukee Public Schools, a mean score in Math that’s 21 points better than Milwaukee public schools, and a mean score in Science that’s 23 points better than Milwaukee Public Schools.
In this particular case, I think Americans United needs to go back and read the UArk data that they’re citing from—because what they’re trying to present doesn’t “mesh” with the data they’re citing from….
Vouchers have never been anything else but a semi-plausible way to rob the Public Schools, diminish their budgets, and give money to private ‘educators’ (e.g., Chester Finn, Lamar Alexander, et al). The voucher movement is part an parcel of the conservatard/flying monkey/fuckwit attack on Public Schools.
Why do have such poor to average grade schools and high schools and the best colleges in the world?
because ALL our students go to primary and secondary schools. It wouldn’t do to lavish too much money or time or energy on the slags, scum, proles, etc…
College/university on the other hand is selective, mainly choosing those folks with money.
Neil Wilson,
The reason that many European Countries do not have a good university system is that they run their university system like the U.S. runs the public school system. Free to most students, low barriers to entry, unionized work force, and the desire to keep the schools all equal. The European model is more like the SUNY Model.
Image what the State of New York could do if they decided to have a flagship state university like Michigan, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, etc.
“An alternative question is, Do vouchers improve students’ odds of survival?” – Dale
Dale views children going to school as some sort of a exercise in survival.
Dale. Instead of investing all this time and energy trying to get your kids out of public schools, invest it in improving public schools. Quit trying to segregate yourself or your kids from the very society you/they belong to, it doesn’t work.
If Milwaukee would have invested $120M in the public school system I would imagine they would have tested better and would be safer then either current system.
Ugh, usually I love the even-handedness with which CB writes, but in this case he’s engaged in some disingenuous arguments.
First, he paints a homogeneous pro-voucher movement, when in fact there are all sorts of different people supporting vouchers for several different reasons. Many of those reasons I strongly disagree with (religious indoctrination of children, for instance).
However, I am more sympathetic to the argument that letting parents direct children (and therefore funds) to different schools will create an economic incentive for schools — both public and private — to improve. I am also swayed by arguments that teachers unions have built in conflicts of interest and often have to decide between the welfare of their members versus what benefits the children their members teach. Or, worse, the welfare of the union versus the children the union’s members teach.
If you accept (or will even entertain) either of those arguments, it stands to reason that voucher programs will take years to have any measurable effect. To an economically-focused voucher supporter, the fact that test results are very similar just means that vouchers haven’t immediately broken anything and are doing no harm in the short term, and it does not at all indicate that a market-driven educational system is doomed to failure as nay-sayers so often suggest.
Now, I know I’m going to get called names and attacked for even hinting that vouchers may be less than a terrible awful very-bad thing. Heck, I’m no voucher cheerleader, and to the extent that I agree with testing them empirically, I would personally prohibit their use for religious schools. I just figured that some percentage of you out there might be interested in a more nuanced pro-voucher viewpoint than CB presented,
“Why do have such poor to average grade schools and high schools and the best colleges in the world?”
SALARY hands down. Increase salaries and increased competition will lead to better teachers. Better teachers equal better students.
Neil Wilson,
I would guess that at least 80 of the best 100 colleges in the world are in the US.
I would guess that at least 80 of the best 100 grade schools and high schools are in the US.
Beverly Hills High School for instance has outstanding test results.
Actually better parents make better students. Teachers are supposed to be an extension of the parents not surrogate parents. I feel that if parents were more involved in their childrens education public schools would work just fine. Its just eaiser to blame teachers, unions and the public school system as a whole.
Jim@20: How is it easier to blame teachers, unions, and the public school system as a while than it is to blame parents, as you’ve just done? That didn’t look particularly hard, either.
Me, I think the macro problem is caused by lots of smaller problems, including parents, teachers, bureaucracy, ideologues, and all sorts of others. So I’m for tackling each step of the way whenever possible rather than focusing on one — be it parents or unions — to the exclusion of others.
Brooks @21,
When was the last time the GOP or other outspoken proponents of voucher programs put any blame on parents? Never. Sure its easy to leave a comment on a blog that includes parents in the blame game, but based on what we’ve seen to date its apparently very difficult for public officials, especially voucher supporters, to do this.
I agree with Jim. Most of the disparities in educational outcomes disappear, statistically, when when adjusts for the parents’ level of education. Private schools are more about keeping kids isolated within a certain ethnic, religious or socio-economic group than real educational improvements. In that sense, they’re about as socially useful as private health insurance.
The OECD’s PISA studies also confirm that this finding holds up pretty much everywhere in rich nations (emerging economies are another story).
That said, there is a minority of public schools that have quality issues and, certainly, there’s a lot of room for offering greater academic choice. It bothers me to no end that foreign language instruction is nearly non-existend at the elementary level.
Edo@22:
Well, seeing as how I’m a voucher supporter (see post #17), and I agreed that parents share blame (see post #21), I’d say the last time an outspoken (I did speak out, right?) voucher supporter blamed parents was about… 5 minutes ago?
Besides, lots of right wingers blame parents, just not in the ways we on the left like. They blame parents for lacking family values or not taking kids to church. And, to the far right, the only reason the public education system is “broken” is because the day doesn’t start with a prayer and end with a bible study. So it’s only natural that they’d blame “the system” rather than parents.
Really, I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone reasonable who disagreed that that American parenting standards are part of our educational system’s problem. It is a somewhat tougher problem to solve, though.
So are the private schools in these voucher programs required to accept any student?
How many private schools have the capacity to accept special needs students, those with physical handicaps and learning disorders?
How many private schools have to provide free breakfasts, lunches, and school supplies for their students?
How many private schools have a substantial percentage of their students that are not fluent in English?
Lastly, what is the average cost for public schools to spend to meet these demands from their students?
The religious indoctrination stuff is a red herring. Religious education does not a zealot make, and the reason that most of the parents send their kids to religious schools with vouchers is that often they’re the only ones they can afford.
It would be nice if some of these “Friends” schools were cheaper, but they aren’t. So anyone complaining about the fact that people use vouchers for parochial schools should consider that many of these allegedly liberal and secular private schools are utterly classist and exclude even families who get that extra help via exorbitant tuition rates.
Brooks @24,
Right. Now point me to someone outside of a blog or other internet forum where a pro-voucher proponent has blamed parents. Go ahead and find something. i’ll wait.
Charter schools do no better than “ordinary” public schools, according to the Rand Corporation:
http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP157/
I don’t think anything has been proven, when one looks at the actual numbers. Looking at what the Department of Education is reporting, the amount being spent on private elementary and secondary schools is a nit. In 2007 (the last line item), total expenditures for all elementary and secondary education across the country is nearly $600 billion. Yet, less than 8% of that goes to private schools, whether they get paid directly as tuition from individuals or government-provided vouchers to assist in covering the costs. Less than 8%. Public schools, funded exclusively by local, state, and federal tax dollars, which means there is no choice given to taxpayers to decide whether or not to pay for it (the government calls that a crime), still receive just under 93% of all the money spent on education at these levels of schooling. Even those people qualified to receive tax-subsidized vouchers from some level of government to cover private school tuition might still have to pay some taxes, including property taxes if they are homeowners or own a business, to cover the tax-subsidized vouchers and expenditures for public schools (although they would probably get some kind of tax credit or tax deduction to reflect this on some taxes; in the parts of Illinois I’ve lived and paid property taxes in, Chicago suburbs not in Cook County, we don’t itemize the property taxes, sent as bills from the county to be paid in two parts, that pay the lion’s share of public school money; but we can take private education credits and deductions on both state and federal income taxes; but, this doesn’t lessen the impact of the property taxes paid by homeowners and businesses).
“Liberals” love talking about how much they love “oversight” and fiscal responsibility, and that the supposed lack of oversight in private schools, even those somewhat subsidized by taxes, is “proof” of the failure of private school vouchers, citing studies like this as “evidence”. I’ve read parts of the actual report referenced here, and conclude that it is fair, even based on the limitations stated by the authors of this privately funded study. That isn’t the problem. And neither is the oversight or lack of it in regards to private schools. Nor are the arguments made by “liberals” about their so-called concerrrrn for fiscal responsibility.
The fact of the matter is, almost 93% of all money for education goes to public schools, funded exclusively by taxes, and all complete with a variety of government “oversight”. The problem public schools in this country, the poorer areas of big cities, which happen to be run exclusively by Democrats, suck, even with all this “oversight”. The “liberals” have three “answers” to fix this problem: 1) maintain the status quo, which is to do nothing; 2) attack tax subsidies private schools sometimes get and try to use more tax dollars to fund further studies to use as “evidence” to “prove” their attacks; and, 3) provide more tax dollars to public schools, regardless of what will be done with the money, and then whine when more money isn’t provided, using “racism” and other hateful invalid arguments. That’s it. Not “in a nutshell”; this is it. This is all “liberals” do. This isn’t any kind of real concern about total oversight of the public school systems, nor of what anybody would say is fiscal responsibility. What “liberals” say and do is nothing, lie, and promote further fiscal irresponsibility with tax dollars. And all one has to do to prove this is to look at the actual numbers.
What a shock! all the while I was in school teachers resisted standards that would compare student performance to decide teacher performance.. and now those same teachers who think that vouchers are the work of the devil… want to compare schools according to student performance to get rid of vouchers.
Then of course, some students require far more to teach than others, but the amount of the vouchers in many cases is static. What scholastic level of student is most likely to feel the school has failed him? a guy who did not get it or a guy that really did git “it”?
A voucher system to be a fair comparison should divide students regionally, and the “regions” should be a slice of poor and rich folks… then let those “new’ schools have YEARS to get it right, THEN make a decision on the schools that perform worse than public schools, not by only testing the students, but surveying the parents, following the students work performance after have left school, and, test for non “reading,. writing, and math” subjects like “leadership” “moral responsibility” or simply staying out of jail.
The national school system is a monopoly with a greater market share than Microsoft. And now they are arguing that competition “fares no better” than the monopoly…
I say, SO FAR THEY HAVE DONE ABOUT AS WELL AND I WOULD LIKE A CHOICE!
But using taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for “private” schools isn’t real privatization, it’s not deregulation, and it sure as hell isn’t a reduction in social spending. It’s faux privatization, making private profit at public expense, and it’s no more than a form of corruption.
Are there any statistics for these schools in regards to welfare households? Good or bad parent is what makes for good or bad kids. It has always amazed me how a single mother working 2 jobs can do a better job of raising decent kids than a welfare queen who stays home all day. Welfare culture, which is all to prevalent in DC, will never produce worthwhile citizens. There is simply no work ethic or motivation to better one self through education but pleanty of depression at a meaningless existence that leads to substance addiction and other criminal activity. We need the gradual abolishment of the welfare state otherwise the demand of the parasites will overwhelm the ability of the producers to provide more slops for the trough.
Are you a believer in democracy and freedom of choice? If so, then you should support the implementation of school vouchers and I will attempt to tell you why I believe the preceding argument, which states that school vouchers are failing, is faulty. As a political science major, I have studied education policy in a legislative process class, where I took part in a simulation of Congress. During the simulation, I was the ranking member of the Education and the Workforce committee and worked with others to create and amend education bills. Vouchers provide the necessary funds to allow students from low-income families to attend the private school of their choosing. They help to create more diversity in private schools and they even benefit failing public schools who now have an incentive to improve their conditions so they don’t lose potential students to private schools. Children are the future of this nation and their public education system is failing, lacking, and falling behind. The original commenter states that vouchers are failing because public school students have scored higher on standardized tests than private school students who have received funding, but the statistics used are only from the Milwaukee area and do not represent the entire country. Also, private schools do not have to comply with No Child Left Behind testing regulations and so their tests may be more challenging. It is time to reform our education system, as we strive to set the standard for success worldwide and allow the potential for more Einsteins and Edisons.
School choice/vouchers simply do not work. All it does is perpetuate the myth that private schools are better than public schools and that simply isn’t true.
1. Statistics show that public schools are on average at the same footing as private schools and in some cases even better.
2. Roughly 70% of the private schools in the US are sectarian anyways, so now religious doctrine is being fed with the education. That is another problem.
the main way we can help our kids learn better is with parental involvement, not some right wing idea that is not feasible. Parents and teachers should work together in order to help the children. In the end, the children should benefit. Not a political party.