Long-Delayed Education Study Casts Doubt on Value of Vouchers
It is no surprise that opponents of vouchers would try to twist the study released yesterday (see my previous email) to make it appear to be negative for vouchers, when in fact it says NOTHING WHATSOEVER -- either pro or con -- about vouchers. Even if we assume that, nationwide, the average private school is no better than the average public school, what does this have to do with vouchers, which in almost all cases are aimed at students at the WORST public schools, and give parents the option of sending their kids NOT to a random private school, but to one they've chosen (in most cases, studies have shown, a far better school).
I would expect a teacher union newsletter to have a moronic headline like this -- "Long-Delayed Education Study Casts Doubt on Value of Vouchers" -- but the Wall Street Journal?!?! Sigh...
Here's John Kirtley's take: "What is even more outrageous is that the headline of the story in the WSJ about the public and private school study was "Study Casts Doubt On Vouchers". Huh? How does it do that? Was this a study of children who used a voucher program? Or a study on public school students in an area where other children used vouchers? Or a study on the effect of the mere threat of competition from a voucher program on the public schools (like Hoxby did in Florida)? Of course not, none of these things. And yet we have have a headline, in the WSJ no less, like this. Shameful journalism that will be parrotted by the union."
-----------------------The report, which examined test scores in reading and mathematics among fourth and eighth graders, casts doubt on the value of voucher programs that give students public money to attend private schools. Although voucher proponents contend that private education is often superior to public schooling, the federally commissioned study found that better test scores by private-school students can largely be attributed to differences in the students themselves, not their teachers and institutions.
The findings confirm a study of the same data, released earlier this year, by researchers at the University of Illinois. "This once again shows that private-schools are not the silver bullet that voucher advocates say they are," said Howard Nelson, a researcher for the American Federation of Teachers, a union of 1.3 million members that has long opposed vouchers.
Long-Delayed Education Study Casts Doubt on Value of Vouchers
July 15, 2006; Page A5
Students in public schools perform just as well as their private-school peers when test scores are adjusted for race, socioeconomics and other factors, according to a long-delayed study released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The report, which examined test scores in reading and mathematics among fourth and eighth graders, casts doubt on the value of voucher programs that give students public money to attend private schools. Although voucher proponents contend that private education is often superior to public schooling, the federally commissioned study found that better test scores by private-school students can largely be attributed to differences in the students themselves, not their teachers and institutions...
posted by Whitney Tilson at 11:37 PM
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