School Choice & Charters What the Research Says

What Happened to Students Left Behind as Florida Expanded Its Voucher Program?

By Stephen Sawchuk — March 03, 2020 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The nation’s largest tax-credit scholarship program doesn’t seem to have hurt the academics of students who remain in public schools, a new study shows.

Those students who stayed in public schools during the expansion of Florida’s tax-credit-funded private school vouchers program—the nation’s largest, with more than 100,000 students participating—saw improvements in their reading- and math-test scores, and had fewer suspensions and absences on average, concludes the study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The most likely explanation for the gains, the study says, appears to confirm one of the arguments made by private school choice boosters: The competitive pressure that comes from students having a lot of school choices led public schools to improve their offerings. But the study was not designed to peer inside the “black box” of schools to determine precisely what happened.

Researchers from Emory University; the University of California, Davis; and Northwestern University drew on a sample of more than 1 million Florida students, merging their birth records with test-score data from grades 3-8 from the 2002-03 through the 2016-17 school years. Students’ suspensions and absences were tracked through 2011-12.

Student outcomes were analyzed against different measures of school competition, such as how many private schools with the same grade levels were nearby or the proportion of students served in private schools. The findings showed students attending schools in more-competitive areas seeing greater increases in reading- and math-test scores and decreased suspensions and absences.

The researchers tried to rule out alternative explanations for the results, such as smaller classes in the original schools or lower achievement among the exiting students. They also warned that Florida’s program has some unique features: Not all private school choice programs may yield the same effects.

A version of this article appeared in the March 04, 2020 edition of Education Week as What Happened to Students Left Behind as Florida Expanded Its Voucher Program?

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reimagining Grading in K-12 Schools: A Conversation on the Value of Standards-Based Grading
Hear from K-12 educational leaders and explore standards-based grading benefits and implementation strategies and challenges
Content provided by Otus
Reading & Literacy Webinar How Background Knowledge Fits Into the ‘Science of Reading’ 
Join our webinar to learn research-backed strategies for enhancing reading comprehension and building cultural responsiveness in the classroom.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Innovative Strategies for Data & Assessments
Join our webinar to learn strategies for actionable instruction using assessment & analysis.
Content provided by Edulastic

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Choice & Charters Opinion Attend These Charter Schools. Leave With College Credentials
The founder of a charter network discusses how his schools bring a K-16 model to the K-12 system.
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
School Choice & Charters Explainer Education Savings Accounts, Explained
Four states this year have passed laws allowing any parent to spend public dollars on private school tuition or other education expenses.
17 min read
Illustration with scales holding books and cash
Liz Yap/Education Week/iStock/Getty
School Choice & Charters A Major Reversal on Religious Charter Schools in Oklahoma
The attorney general withdrew his predecessor's opinion that religious groups could not be excluded from the state charter school program.
4 min read
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is pictured Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, during an interview in Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond withdrew his predecessor's opinion that had fueled hopes the state might approve religious charter schools.
Sue Ogrocki/AP
School Choice & Charters Opinion A Charter Academy Delivering a ‘Classical’ Education Grows in Popularity
At its core, Great Hearts Academy seeks to foster virtuous human beings, explains the schools' CEO.
5 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty