Education professors ignore the evidence on school choice

By Corey DeAngelis. Excerpts:

"the most recent federal evaluation of the D.C. voucher program does not show any negative effects on student test scores after three years. In fact, the study finds statistically significant positive effects on reports of safety, satisfaction, and attendance. What’s more, the D.C. choice program produces these benefits at about a third of the cost of nearby public schools."

"it’s entirely possible that both education scholars missed the most recent school choice results. After all, the study had only been public for a little over three weeks by the time their piece came out. But overlooking such important results when summarizing the “latest research” would be negligent of “researchers who study school choice and education policy.”

The authors cite just three other evaluations (two of which are nonexperimental) to support the notion that “vouchers harm student learning.” But researchers should cite all of the most rigorous existing studies to avoid unintentional cherry-picking. Here’s the entire picture.

Sixteen random assignment studies link private school choice programs to student test scores in the United States. The majority (11) of the 16 gold-standard studies find statistically significant positive effects on test scores overall or for student subgroups. Only 2 of the 16 experiments (both from Louisiana, where school choice is highly regulated) find statistically significant negative effects on student test scores. The most rigorous evidence linking private school choice to student test scores actually leans positive.

We’re not done yet.

The authors cite just one study to support the claim that “some of the most recent research finds that vouchers don’t really lead to better college enrollment, either.” That’s highly misleading. Seven rigorous studies link private school choice programs in the U.S. to college enrollment. Five of the seven find statistically significant positive effects of school choice on college enrollment overall or for student subgroups. Two studies find no effects. Zero find negative effects.

Some school choice researchers, including myself, have summarized empirical evidence showing standardized test scores may not be the best metric of success. But instead of engaging with the scientific evidence directly, the authors simply wave it off by wrongly accusing school choice researchers of goalpost-shifting, even though choice researchers were interested in non-test-score outcomes (and argued against mandating standardized testing) far before any experimental studies found negative effects of voucher programs on test scores."