National Education Policy Center raps pro-voucher study touted in La.

A report released last month claiming to show that a private school voucher program in New York City boosted college enrollment among black students was widely touted by voucher supporters, including Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White. However, a new analysis released today argues the data collected in the original paper actually does not support the authors’ conclusions. In the first paper, by researchers with the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings and Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, the authors admit they found “no overall impacts on college enrollments,” but say black students who were offered the half-tuition vouchers were 20% more likely to attend college, and those that used the vouchers were 24% more likely (though the authors do not explain why the mere offer of a voucher boosted college attendance). The review by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison argues the evidence shows “school vouchers did not improve college enrollment rates among all students or even among a selected subgroup.” In fact, the Brookings/Harvard report “convincingly demonstrates that in New York City a private voucher program failed to increase the college enrollment rates of students from low-income families,” the critique says. —David Jacobs