Educational Vouchers: A Review of the Research

by
Alex Molnar

Center for Education Research, Analysis, and Innovation
School of Education
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
PO Box 413
Milwaukee WI 53201
414-229-2716

October, 1999

CERAI-99-21

Educational Vouchers: A Review of the Research 
October 1999
CERAI-99-21

Alex Molnar
Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee 

This document combines excerpts from two reports: "Smaller Classes -- Not Vouchers -- Increase Student Achievement" (Harrisburg, Pa.: Keystone Research Center, March 1998); and "Smaller Classes and Educational Vouchers: A Research Update" (Harrisburg, Pa.: Keystone Research Center, June 1999). Both documents are available on the website of the Center for Education Research, Analysis, and Innovation at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CERAI

Table of Contents - Exercept 1 Historical Background Educational Choice Enters the Mainstream The Battle Over Vouchers Today The Milwaukee Parental Choice Voucher Program The Debate Over the Achievement Effect of the Milwaukee Voucher Program Box 3: Public vs. Private Schools Why Different Researchers Reach Different Conclusions The Witte Evaluations Box 4: Sorting through the Conflicting Voucher Results The Greene, Peterson, and Du Evaluation Box 5: When are Significant Results Not So Significant? The Rouse Evaluation Milwaukee’s Private Voucher Program -- PAVE Box 6 - A Case Example of the Relative Cost and Performance of Public and Private Schools The Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program (CSTP) Vouchers, Values, and Educational Equity Box 7: Does Money Matter? School Spending and School Outcomes References

Table of Contents - Exercept 2 The Argument Over Vouchers The Milwaukee Parental Choice Voucher Program The Achievement Effects of the Milwaukee Voucher Program The Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program (CSTP) Official Evaluation Results for CSTP Private Voucher Programs  Private School Vouchers (Con't) Vouchers and Educational Equity  References

The Debate Over the Achievement Effect of the Milwaukee Voucher Program

Three research teams have analyzed the data collected during the first four years of the Milwaukee voucher program.

University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor John Witte is the principal author of each of the first four annual evaluations of the program.³⁰ He and his team are the only researchers to have analyzed fifth-year data on the pro-gram.³¹ In a January 1997 paper, Witte summarized the findings of his first four evaluations and presented a reanalysis of some of his data in light of criticisms of his methods and findings.³²

In August 1996 and March 1997, Professors Jay Greene (University of Houston), Paul Peterson (Harvard) and Jiangtao Du (Harvard) issued two re-analyses of Witte’s data on the first four years of the program.³³

In September 1997, Princeton Professor Cecilia Rouse released a paper, accepted for publication in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, that analyzes the achievement data from the Choice program’s first four years.³⁴ In December 1997, Rouse published a subsequent paper comparing performance in three categories of schools within the MPS system, both to each other and to the Choice schools. 

In considering the research designs and findings of Witte, Greene, Peterson, and Du, and Rouse it is useful to understand the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program’s scope and character. The program has never involved a large number of students and has never reached the total enrollment authorized by law. Some students have nonetheless been turned away because the school they wished to attend had no space at their grade level. According to the Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau’s 1995 report, 30.3 percent of the children enrolled in the program one year do not return the next year.³⁵

Table 1: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Profile: 1990-1998

Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Profile 1990-1999
School Year	Number of Schools	Number of Applications	Average # of Voucher Students*	Voucher Amount	Total Cost of Vouchers (millions)	Annual Attrition Rate
1990-1991	7	577	300	$2,446	$0.73	0.46
1991-1992	6	689	512	$2,643	$1.35	0.35
1992-1993	11	998	594	$2,745	$1.63	0.31
1993-1994	12	1049	704	$2,985	$2.10	0.27
1994-1995	12	1046	771	$3,209	$2.47	0.28
1995-1996	17		1288	$3,667	$4.61
1996-1997	20		1616**	$4,373	$7.07**
1997-1998	23			$4,696	$7.03

*Includes summer school.
**Unaudited figures.
Sources: State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction web page,

http://www.dpi.state.wi.us/dpi/dfm/sms/histmem.html; and John F. Witte, Troy D. Sterr, and Christopher A. Thorn, Fifth-Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (Madison, WI: The Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison, December 1995).

The MPCP overwhelmingly supports elementary school students. According to the 1995 Legislative Audit Bureau Report, 23.2 percent of the participants in the Milwaukee voucher program in 1994-95 enrolled in kindergarten, 61.1 percent in kindergarten through third grade, and 76 percent in kindergarten through fifth grade.³⁶

For 1997-98, a MPCP voucher equals $4,696.³⁷ The Milwaukee Public Schools also provide transportation for those voucher students who require it. The voucher compares with a per-pupil expenditure in the Milwaukee Public Schools of $7,869 for 1997-98. (As well as the state support that sets the voucher amount, MPS total spending per pupil includes funding from local tax revenues, federal aid, and private sources.) Of the $7,869 total, on average, elementary (K-6) schools directly received $3,875 per-pupil, K-8 schools received $4,234, middle schools $4,831, and high schools $4,659 per pupil. Over and above these amounts, schools also receive money for special education. Money not distributed directly to the schools is used for capital improvements, the recreation program, alternative education programs, food service, building maintenance, transportation, and other central support services. Central administration costs account for approximately 5 percent or less of the Milwaukee budget.³⁸

In sum, while Brent Staples in The New York Times claimed on January 4, 1998, that vouchers are limited to $3,000 and are less than half what public schools spend per pupil, neither statement is true.³⁹ Indeed, since Choice students fall primarily in the relatively inexpensive primary grades, vouchers usually exceed what most MPS schools receive directly for pupils in the same grades. It is impossible to judge whether voucher or public schools have more resources in Milwaukee at this juncture, because information is lacking on what participating private schools receive from
private sources, and because the range of services offered by private and public schools differs (private schools, for example, need not provide special education). 

Three schools, Bruce Guadalupe, Harambee, and Urban Day, enroll a substantial majority (over 80 percent according to Greene, Peterson, and Du ⁴⁰ ) of all voucher students. Each of these schools had a long history and established reputation prior to the passage of the Milwaukee voucher program. The fact that three schools, with unique histories, enroll such a large proportion of Milwaukee’s voucher students makes it difficult to generalize to large-scale voucher programs that would require many new schools. Finally, none of the evaluations of the Milwaukee program contain data on high school students because so few voucher students attend high school.

In his evaluations, John Witte found that, when compared to Milwaukee Public School parents, parents who send their children to voucher schools are better educated and more involved in their children’s education, have higher academic expectations, and are more critical of the Milwaukee Public Schools than are Milwaukee Public School parents.⁴¹ These findings have not been disputed. This suggests that MPCP parents are so-called high-voice parents. Since only a small number of students apply to Choice schools each year (see Table 1) relative to the number of eligible students (about 60,000), the program may be attracting a small subset of low-income parents with distinct characteristics. This makes it difficult to use the Milwaukee experience to predict the effectiveness of large-scale voucher programs.

To determine the academic impact of the Milwaukee voucher program, all of the researchers whose work is described here use test data from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in reading and math.

Continue with the Next Section Box 3: Public vs. Private Schools