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Here is a little background on the DC voucher program that your sources amy not have included. Everything is taken from the official program evaluation report prepared for DOEd by the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. It was released in March 2009.
The program has had about twice as many applicants as it's had scholarships available. The scholarships have been awarded on the basis of an annual lottery.
Of those receiving a scholarship, 25% never used it at all, 34% used it for a while then chose not to, and 41% used and continued to use the scholarship. The top five reasons for never using a scholarship were that the child was not accepted to the private school of choice, the family moved out of DC, the child was accepted to a public charter school, no private school could deal with the child's physical or emotional disabilities, and transportation difficulties.
Of children using the scholarships, about 5% came from DC public schools that had been rated "In Need of Improvement" under NCLB. About 20% were students who had already been in private school when they received the scholarship.
88% of participating students attended religious schools. 59% attended Catholic schools.
Over the three-year evaluation period, 46% of participating students switched schools once, 40% switched schools twice, and 11% switched schools three times.
While participating parents have reported increased satisfaction with their child's school and belief that the school is safe, participating students have not. Participating and non-participating students report the same levels of school satisfaction and safety.
Participating students were more likely to attend a school with a computer lab, a music program, and programs for advanced learners. They were less likely to attend a school with a cafeteria, a nurse's office, guidance counselors, tutoring programs, programs for speakers of English as a second language, programs for those with learning disabilities, and after-school programs.
There were no overall gains in assessed math performance, nor were there gains in any of the ten tested subgroups. There were overal gains in assessed reading performance, and in five of the ten tested subgroups -- students who did not come from schools "In Need of Improvement", students who had been in the higher-performing two-thirds of students who received scholarships, girls, students in grades K-8, and students who entered the program in its first year.
Here is a little background on the DC voucher program that your sources amy not have included. Everything is taken from the official program evaluation report prepared for DOEd by the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. It was released in March 2009.
The program has had about twice as many applicants as it's had scholarships available. The scholarships have been awarded on the basis of an annual lottery.
Of those receiving a scholarship, 25% never used it at all, 34% used it for a while then chose not to, and 41% used and continued to use the scholarship. The top five reasons for never using a scholarship were that the child was not accepted to the private school of choice, the family moved out of DC, the child was accepted to a public charter school, no private school could deal with the child's physical or emotional disabilities, and transportation difficulties.
Of children using the scholarships, about 5% came from DC public schools that had been rated "In Need of Improvement" under NCLB. About 20% were students who had already been in private school when they received the scholarship.
88% of participating students attended religious schools. 59% attended Catholic schools.
Over the three-year evaluation period, 46% of participating students switched schools once, 40% switched schools twice, and 11% switched schools three times.
While participating parents have reported increased satisfaction with their child's school and belief that the school is safe, participating students have not. Participating and non-participating students report the same levels of school satisfaction and safety.
Participating students were more likely to attend a school with a computer lab, a music program, and programs for advanced learners. They were less likely to attend a school with a cafeteria, a nurse's office, guidance counselors, tutoring programs, programs for speakers of English as a second language, programs for those with learning disabilities, and after-school programs.
There were no overall gains in assessed math performance, nor were there gains in any of the ten tested subgroups. There were overal gains in assessed reading performance, and in five of the ten tested subgroups -- students who did not come from schools "In Need of Improvement", students who had been in the higher-performing two-thirds of students who received scholarships, girls, students in grades K-8, and students who entered the program in its first year.
Have you ever been inside a DC public school? I have. As far back as 1970 the elementary schools had DC police in every school. You cannot tell me that is a better enviroment then the schools the parents were able to get thier children in.
so your information shows that 1) the program was in demand...
Up-front demand from parents misled by people like you into thinking that voucher programs will deliver so much more than any of them ever actually do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridasandy
2) it had results at least equal to the system already in place...
Exactly. Plus or minus, there are absolutely no signficant educational gains to be expected from implementing a voucher system. Same old story. Backers promise the moon then deliver a moon-pie if anything at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridasandy
3) it was done at half the cost.
LOL. The per-pupil costs for DCPS include all of the fixed costs that changed not one iota as the result of 1,700 kids being given vouchers. You want to do a cost estimate, do a cost estimate. Don't just pull out numbers because they happen to make an otherwise empty case look a little better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridasandy
i think it is great to have choices and more parents will do their homework on school selection and standards when they realize that they have options.
Well, that really sounds great, but the option that 60% of the kids who won a scholarship exercised was the option to drop out of the program and go back to their original school. Doesn't really say so much for your precious program, does it?
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On Edit: The 60% number is slightly overtstated in that about 5% were forced out due to aging out of the program, having family income rise to a point where they were no longer eligible for the program, or having their school cut back or eliminate scholarship slots. So knocking them out, it would only have been 55% of recipients that literally CHOSE to leave the program.
Last edited by saganista; 01-13-2010 at 09:25 AM..
The March 2009 report was to have been updated by a further report to add the succeeding year's cohort to the analysis, but with the program basically dying and the economy as well, I don't know at this point whether that follow-up report ever came to be.
Have you ever been inside a DC public school? I have. As far back as 1970 the elementary schools had DC police in every school. You cannot tell me that is a better enviroment then the schools the parents were able to get thier children in.
And as far back as the 1950's, DC had some of the premier minority schools in the nation. The top high schools had more PhD's on staff than most universities. In those days of legal and de facto segregation, minority families moved from all over the country to get their kids into DC public schools. Times change, however, and now they are changing again. Otherwise, I'm not trying to tell you anything, but the numbers of kids not using, or using and then leaving, the voucher program do suggest something. You go ahead and figure out what that might be...
I did a brief skim over it and it is being utilized by hundreds of kids. The point is that it's an opportunity to improve someone's family tree. If one kid can get interested in education, and get a degreed job later in life - that changes family outcomes. Congress is removing the opportunity for low income minority kids to improve themselves and future generations.
If I find the actual improvement in education study, I will post it also.
And as far back as the 1950's, DC had some of the premier minority schools in the nation. The top high schools had more PhD's on staff than most universities. In those days of legal and de facto segregation, minority families moved from all over the country to get their kids into DC public schools. Times change, however, and now they are changing again. Otherwise, I'm not trying to tell you anything, but the numbers of kids not using, or using and then leaving, the voucher program do suggest something. You go ahead and figure out what that might be...
I don't know if you are for the program ending or not. I just can't understand why anybody would want this to end - if you are interested in improving the lives of others.
Saganista -Here's another report. Here's a link to a DOE April 2006 Report that looks at who is using the scholarships.
It's not another report, it's the same report, only the version from midway through Year-2 instead of midway through Year-5.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DRob4JC
I did a brief skim over it and it is being utilized by hundreds of kids. The point is that it's an opportunity to improve someone's family tree. If one kid can get interested in education, and get a degreed job later in life - that changes family outcomes. Congress is removing the opportunity for low income minority kids to improve themselves and future generations. If I find the actual improvement in education study, I will post it also.
The old "if one kid..." argument isn't going to get you very far. Congress has reacted to the fact that once again a voucher program -- in this case, a boutique program designed to avoid the sorts of problems of scale that have plagued larger efforts -- has completely failed to deliver on its up-front promises. There were no gains evident in the beginning, there were none in the middle, and there were none at the end. Vouchers don't work. One out of every twenty voucher kids actually came from a public school rated "In Need of Improvement" under NCLB, even though outsiders believe that all DC kids attend such public schools. Four times that number of kids were in fact already in private school when they got their vouchers. Lots of hub-bub and to-do, and at the end of the day, a relative handful of kids managed to gain one-sixth of a standard deviation in reading skills. There's nobody home here. This program isn't working. Time to shut it down and move on to something else that might give more than a handful of kids that chance to "improve their family tree"...
"The reading effects of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) show the largest achievement impact of any education policy program yet evaluated in a randomized control trial by the U.S. Department of Education and reveal an important trend toward increased reading gains for students the longer they remain in the program, according to the evaluation’s principal investigator, Patrick Wolf of the University of Arkansas." Students in D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program Make Significant Improvements in Reading, U.S. Education Department Study Finds
"The IES [the study saganista linked] released the third-year impact evaluation of the Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) in April 2009. The results showed that students who participated in the program performed at significantly higher levels in reading than the students in an experimental control group." Lost Opportunities : Education Next
It's not another report, it's the same report, only the version from midway through Year-2 instead of midway through Year-5.
The old "if one kid..." argument isn't going to get you very far. Congress has reacted to the fact that once again a voucher program -- in this case, a boutique program designed to avoid the sorts of problems of scale that have plagued larger efforts -- has completely failed to deliver on its up-front promises. There were no gains evident in the beginning, there were none in the middle, and there were none at the end. Vouchers don't work. One out of every twenty voucher kids actually came from a public school rated "In Need of Improvement" under NCLB, even though outsiders believe that all DC kids attend such public schools. Four times that number of kids were in fact already in private school when they got their vouchers. Lots of hub-bub and to-do, and at the end of the day, a relative handful of kids managed to gain one-sixth of a standard deviation in reading skills. There's nobody home here. This program isn't working. Time to shut it down and move on to something else that might give more than a handful of kids that chance to "improve their family tree"...
I will let others do the talking with regards to the program's effectiveness. I have more if you need more evidence. Since this program "isn't working", what is your solution?
I wanted small class sizes, individual attention and more chances to be involved in their educations. Now I see their enthusiasm for learning, respectful behavior, wonderful grades and healthy self-esteem. I know that they will go on to college and that their futures are bright.
I am a single mother on a fixed income, but most important, I am the proud mother of 9-year-old Breanna, who has a D.C. Opportunity Scholarship.
...
Today Breanna is at Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian school, right in our own neighborhood, and has made the honor roll for three semesters. I thank our local leaders who are working to improve education.
Here, for example, is what one parent told University of Arkansas researchers studying the District's Opportunity Scholarship Program: "I know for a fact they would never have received this kind of education at a public school. . . . I listen to them when they talk, and what they are saying, and they articulate better than I do, and I know it's because of the school, and I like that about them, and I'm proud of them."
D.C. parent Joe Kelley has four children in the program, including a 16-year-old son two years from high school graduation.
"I don't ever want to hear him say, 'I don't want to go to school tomorrow,' " he said. "Before my kids got into this program, there was no hope of college because I couldn't trust the system and I was very involved in the schools."
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