Creating Great Schools: Ohio’s example
In recent years, Ohio has become another leader in the school choice movement, providing parents and students with more educational options.
According to the Alliance for School Choice:
Ohio is one of the most active states in the school choice movement. The state offers three distinct private school choice programs: the Educational Choice voucher program for students in failing schools, the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program, and the Autism Scholarship Program. Additionally, the state has a relatively strong charter school law.
Parents should visit the Web site of School Choice Ohio for detailed information on school choice in the state: www.scohio.org
This recent op-ed, “Lawmakers should support all schools that work well,” written by Terry Ryan, takes a closer look at how Ohio’s Ed Choice program benefits students in the state and urges lawmakers to continue to support these options as both a benefit to families and a benefit to taxpayers. It also underscores something we have talked about here before- this isn’t a matter of “public versus private,” but rather about creating great educational options for all students- whether those choices be public, private, charter, religious or home schooling.
What’s less known, however, is that many of the individuals and organizations that supported PACE also supported Dayton Public Schools’ reform efforts, as well as those of a handful of the city’s charter schools.
Frankly, these benefactors diversified their philanthropic investments across school sectors — district, charter and private — because what they wanted were great schools for all children. They saw competition and diverse reform efforts as the best hope for getting there, and were not doctrinaire about these sector distinctions.
Because Dayton has three great high schools (one district, one charter, and one private), we have evidence that the city can provide high-quality school options for its children. Lawmakers and others — no matter where they went to school themselves — should be encouraged to focus their support on those schools that work for children, regardless of label.
Dayton, like the state’s other cities, needs all hands on deck if we are serious about educating all children well.
The Proof is in the Results
Last month we noted the latest findings by the Friedman Foundation’s study of Ohio’s EdChoice program, which found empirical evidence that the choice program was benefitting students as well as public schools.
Paul Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation, takes another look at this in his latest column, “Some Empirically Proven Value in School Choice.”
He writes:
One of the arguments which opponents of school choice always make is that it would adversely affect the public school system. Opponents claim that the alternative schools would siphon off the best students, leaving those who remain who are the least able and the poorest and most disadvantaged students. Just as all of the rest of the arguments which opponents have made have proven false, so also has this argument.
Once again, research shows school choice helps to improve public schools, too!
So we’ve all heard the opposition’s argument about how school choice will hurt public schools. Unfortunately for them, time and time again, the evidence proves just the opposite- showing that choice actually helps public schools improve.
The latest study of Ohio’s EdChoice program has found that once again, public schools in areas participating in school choice programs, have improved as a result of the competition.
“This suggests that, far from harming students in public schools, scholarship programs like EdChoice can actually spur improvements in student learning for those students who remain in the low-performing public schools.”
The study, conducted by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, found many encouraging results of the newly implemented Ohio school choice program:
– In 2006-07, its first year of operation, the EdChoice program produced some academic improvements in Ohio’s most stubbornly underperforming public schools. Positive effects were detected in three grades, and no negative effects were detected in any of the other seven grades studied.
– The positive effects were substantial in size, though not revolutionary. If the effects accumulate over time, in three to four years the public schools studied will have improved by one standard deviation (equal to one-sixth of the distance between the top-scoring and bottom-scoring schools in Ohio).
– The EdChoice program was more restricted in its first year of operation than it is today. Since previous research suggests that the positive impact of vouchers on public schools increases when the programs grow, it is reasonable to expect that the program’s current benefits probably exceed those detected in this study.
UPDATE: Club for Growth also notes these (not so surprising) results on their blog. You can view the full report from the Friedman Foundation online.
School Choice Gives EVERYONE a Reason to Celebrate
So says the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions’s “Buckeye Blog.” They announce that the Friedman Foundation is set to release a new report by Greg Forster on the Ohio EdChoice Program that demonstrates how school choice benefits everyone.
“In fact, the only losers here are the opponents of school choice. When an EdChoice child succeeds at a private school – he’s a winner. When a public school student succeeds because competition improved her school – she’s a winner.
So when will the naysayers stop with the ‘doom and gloom’ reports school choice harming the public school system and get on the freedom bandwagon? When they decide kids should be the priority in education.”
We look forward to reading the report.
