Study Shows School Choice Program Outperforming Public Schools
by Jim Brown
October 5, 2004
(AgapePress) - A new study finds a large gap between the graduation rates of students in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's private school voucher program and students attending the city's public schools.The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research looked at enrollment figures for both Milwaukee public schools and the city's Parental Choice Program. The study's author, Dr. Jay Greene, estimates that the 2003 graduation rate for the Choice Program was 64 percent, while the graduation rate for the city's government schools was only 36 percent. Even academically selective public schools in Milwaukee were found to have a combined graduation rate of only 41 percent.
Greene says the report confirms a series of studies that have consistently shown academic benefits to students who are offered vouchers to attend a private school. And, he notes, "It's also useful to look at graduation rates and not just the test scores because graduation is the end product of our K-12 system."
The researcher points out that graduation rates can be an important indicator not only of success in higher education, but in life as well. "A student who graduates encompasses more than just academic skills," he says. "It also demonstrates a discipline that's necessary to stick with a task until the end, and that's a useful skill for later in life."
And the graduation rate for voucher recipients could be even higher, Green says, if it were not for limitations placed on the school choice program in Wisconsin. He notes that the private schools in the program receive only about half of the per-pupil funding that the Milwaukee public schools do.
"We might want to increase the size of the voucher to be more comparable to that found in the public schools," the Manhattan Institute study's author suggests, "and that might improve their graduation rates, test scores, and other academic outcomes."
Greene also recommends lifting the cap on the voucher program and opening it up to more than just low-income students who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunch.
