School vouchers have worked for those who have needed them most
There are no comments for this page [ Add Comment ]Thursday, September 6, 2007
By Paul T. Mero
Guest commentary
Utah is at a crossroads in behalf of its disadvantaged and struggling public school students, especially its minority populations. Eric Jacobsen's August 31 commentary, "Vouchers have not helped students learn," is both inaccurate as to the claimed failure of school vouchers tried in other states and entirely misses the point of why and how school vouchers can help our neediest and most struggling students in Utah's public schools.
Before Mr. Jacobsen continues his anti-voucher mantra, here's a math figure he could analyze: More than 40 percent of minority students in Utah's public schools do not even graduate high school. These students also suffer dramatically from achievement gaps in standardized tests. They need help that our public school system obviously cannot seem to grant them.
These students need a new way to succeed. Mr. Jacobsen's rhetoric does little to help their cause.
To date, there are eight randomized field trials (RFTs) that have measured the success of school vouchers, as well as three qualified non-random studies recognized for their good methodologies. Each of these studies represents a glass half-full or a glass half-empty, depending upon your perspective. Clearly, Mr. Jacobsen is a glass-half-empty sort of fellow. Once again, the bad news is that struggling students in the public school system need glass-half-full sorts of advocates.
Dr. Jay P. Greene, endowed chair and head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, a Tufts undergrad and Harvard Ph.D., referenced by Mr. Jacobsen, found that based on their benefits these voucher programs should be recommended for continuation if not expansion.
Across the board in these studies, African-American students do better in private schools with a voucher. That's good news in anticipation for what will occur here in Utah. In those studies, African-Americans comprise the largest demographic population in the cities where vouchers have been implemented. In Mr. Jacobsen's language, this is statistically significant. Other demographic ethnicities such as Hispanics, Asians and whites were not as involved in those voucher programs to the same numeric (hence, statistically reliable) degree.
For regular Utahns this means that vouchers work everywhere they have been tried for those who have needed them most. We need the Utah voucher program to work for all struggling minority and low-income students who fall into that deplorable statistic of four out of 10 not graduating.
We are fortunate that the Utah voucher program is exactly designed to serve these students.
Mr. Jacobsen attempts to debunk the logical idea that competition among schools will improve educational conditions for all students. He claims that the threat of vouchers, credited for improvements in Florida's public school system, could have come from some other factors, such as the stigma of receiving an "F" on a statewide school report card. Evidently Mr. Jacobsen was not privy to the public policy discussion over school vouchers in Florida. In plain terms, the school voucher program created the school performance report card. Causation is often hard to prove in any social science. In this case, it was easy -- the school voucher tide raised all educational ships in Florida.
It is time for Utah voters to be glass-half-full sorts of neighbors for those in need. It is time to set aside our prejudices against innovative and effective school reforms. It is time that we, Utahns, accept our role in educational history to lead the nation in helping children who truly need it most.
Mero is president of the Sutherland Institute, a conservative public policy think tank in Salt Lake City.
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