School choices can be good for everyone
Here's an op ed by Doug Tuttle, formerly a President of a teacher union local (they actually edited this out of his bio line!), on Prof. Figlio's earlier report (http://edreform.blogspot.com/2010/06/study-credits-vouchers-for-slight-gains.html), which showed that public schools did better the more they faced competition from private schools):
Skepticism surrounding a new study that finds Florida public schools have improved as a result of a private learning option for poor children speaks more to psychology than methodology. For too long, some have erroneously thought more learning options for students hurt neighborhood schools.
What this study shows is that education improvement is not a zero-sum game. School-choice programs that help some students can also help students who don't choose them.
The report has attracted considerable attention in the research community because of the reputation of its author, Northwestern University economics and social-policy professor David Figlio, and its subject, the effects of competition from the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Figlio is known for rigorous techniques and careful conclusions, and he found the creation of the statewide scholarship to be an ideal laboratory.
The professor concluded: "Our results indicate that the increased competitive pressure faced by public schools associated with the introduction of Florida's FTC Scholarship Program led to general improvements in public-school performance."
So not only did this learning alternative for underprivileged students not hurt neighborhoods schools, but those students remaining in their neighborhood schools actually benefited.
What this study shows is that education improvement is not a zero-sum game. School-choice programs that help some students can also help students who don't choose them.
The report has attracted considerable attention in the research community because of the reputation of its author, Northwestern University economics and social-policy professor David Figlio, and its subject, the effects of competition from the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship. Figlio is known for rigorous techniques and careful conclusions, and he found the creation of the statewide scholarship to be an ideal laboratory.
The professor concluded: "Our results indicate that the increased competitive pressure faced by public schools associated with the introduction of Florida's FTC Scholarship Program led to general improvements in public-school performance."
So not only did this learning alternative for underprivileged students not hurt neighborhoods schools, but those students remaining in their neighborhood schools actually benefited.
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School choices can be good for everyone
By Doug Tuthill | Guest columnist
June 11, 2010
www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-doug-tuthill-061110-20100610,0,6816717.story
posted by Whitney Tilson at 1:34 PM
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