College & Workforce Readiness

Vouchers Linked to Graduation in Milwaukee

By Caroline Hendrie — October 08, 2004 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Students using state-financed vouchers to attend private schools in Milwaukee graduate from high school at a far higher rate than young people in the city’s public schools, according to a study released last week by a group that supports the high-profile choice program.

Researcher Jay P. Greene found that an estimated 64 percent of the 9th graders who used the tuition vouchers at private high schools graduated four years later. Using the same “cohort method” for the class of 2003, the latest data available, he found a 36 percent graduation rate in the city’s public high schools.

“Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee,” is available online from SchoolChoiceInfo.org. (Requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.)

“I think this helps confirm earlier, high-quality research that suggests that the program offers significant academic benefits to students in Milwaukee,” said Mr. Greene, a senior research fellow at the New York City-based Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.

His study was sponsored by School Choice Wisconsin, a Milwaukee-based group that supports the 14-year-old voucher program, which provides funding for some 14,000 students from low-income families to attend secular and religious private schools in the city.

Underscoring the continuing disagreement on how to calculate graduation rates among researchers nationally, Milwaukee public school leaders last week took issue with Mr. Greene’s approach. State officials peg the district’s graduation rate at 61 percent using a different method, said district Superintendent William G. Andrekopoulos, and that’s the percentage that the district considers most reliable.

“We stick with the state’s definition of the graduation rates as the official one we endorse and the one we benchmark against as we are reforming our high schools,” he said.

Still, Mr. Andrekopoulos said the 103,000-student district is intent on reducing its high number of dropouts. A push to restructure district high schools is being underwritten, in part, by the Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Mr. Greene acknowledged that his figures are estimates, but he argued that they present a far more accurate picture than the data relied upon by the district. A study that carefully tracked selected individual students over time could produce more precise results, and it would be helpful if the state would sponsor such research, he said.

“But this is trying to fill the vacuum in information we have about the program right now,” he said. “We cannot let the best be the enemy of the good.”

Gaps Hold Up

The study found that the wide gap in graduation rates held up even when the comparison group for the voucher recipients was students at six Milwaukee public high schools with academic entrance requirements. Among those selective public schools, the study found a graduation rate of just 41 percent.

Earning a Diploma

The private high schools that accept students participating in Milwaukee’s voucher program graduate more students in four years than the city’s public schools, a new study finds.

Choice Public

Graduation rate

64% 36%
9th graders in 1999-2000 262 9,226
Graduates in 2002-03 167 3,329
Number of Schools 10 37

Schools accepting voucher students are not allowed to impose academic admissions criteria, and must hold lotteries if they do not have space for all applicants from the voucher program.

Comparing voucher recipients with their peers in selective public schools addresses the question of whether the higher graduation rate among the private school students “can be explained in part or in full by differences in the advantages and disadvantages that choice and public school students bring to their education,” Mr. Greene argues in the study.

Another expert on graduation rates, Chicago researcher John Q. Easton, said drawing comparisons with selective public schools was a reasonable response to the possibility that students using vouchers “are more highly motivated and have parents who are particularly involved and concerned with their education,” as Mr. Greene puts it in the study.

Still, Mr. Easton, the director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research, said the 41 percent graduation rate for students in selective public schools struck him as so surprisingly low that “it almost called out for a school-by-school listing.”

Mr. Greene’s study included 37 Milwaukee public high schools for which data were available, including some that received charters to operate quasi-independently of the district and “partnership schools” that operate under contracts with the district to serve children deemed at risk of school failure. The data on voucher recipients came from 10 private high schools.

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
Reading & Literacy Webinar
The Future of the Science of Reading
Join us for a discussion on the future of the Science of Reading and how to support every student’s path to literacy.
Content provided by HMH
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
College & Workforce Readiness Webinar
From Classrooms to Careers: How Schools and Districts Can Prepare Students for a Changing Workforce
Real careers start in school. Learn how Alton High built student-centered, job-aligned pathways.
Content provided by TNTP
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

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

College & Workforce Readiness How One School Turned Career Training Into a Turnaround Strategy
This high school was once slated for state takeover. Career pathways helped turn it around.
9 min read
Principal Pierre Orbe interacts with students during summer internship programs at DeWitt Clinton High School on July 14, 2025 in New York City.
Principal Pierre Orbe interacts with students during summer internship programs at DeWitt Clinton High School on July 14, 2025, in New York City. The school prioritizes career pathways, which have helped boost the graduation and attendance rates.
Mostafa Bassim for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness Most Teens—and Girls Especially—Say Finishing College Is Important, Poll Says
A majority of U.S. teenagers—70% of girls and 54% of boys—are prioritizing graduating from college.
3 min read
Ry-n Uyeda runs through a catching drill, Friday, July 11, 2025, in Waianae, Hawaii.
Ry-n Uyeda runs through a catching drill in Waianae, Hawaii. Uyeda hopes to play softball in college. A majority of teens say it's "extremely" or "very" important to them to complete college, despite concerns about rising tuition and student debt, and the politicization of many issues in higher education.
Mengshin Lin/AP
College & Workforce Readiness These High School Graduates Earned a Diploma—and a $74,000 Teaching Contract
This district's 'grow-your-own' program includes an extra incentive: a generous starting salary for graduates who come back to teach.
6 min read
Leonellys Rodriguez, a graduate of University High School in Newark, N.J., and recipient of a conditional teaching job offer from the Newark Public School District, poses with Principal Genique Flournoy-Hamilton on June 24, 2025.
Leonellys Rodriguez, a graduate of University High School in Newark, N.J., and recipient of a conditional teaching job offer from the Newark Public School District, poses with Principal Genique Flournoy-Hamilton on June 24, 2025. The district's grow-your-own, dual-enrollment partnership will bring high-achieving students back to the district as teachers.
Courtesy of Newark Public School District
College & Workforce Readiness AP Students Rate Their Favorite—and Least Favorite—Courses of 2025
Students taking AP exams for college credit can review their scores in July.
3 min read
Illustration of diverse students sitting on a stack of huge textbooks with one holding a pencil and smiling. There is a blue background with ghosted math equations swirling around.
iStock/Getty