Conservatives Can't Vouch for Vouchers, But They Will Mislead

[marmar]

from OurFuture.org:



Conservatives Can't Vouch for Vouchers, But They Will Mislead
By Isaiah J. Poole

June 17th, 2008 - 10:45am ET


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The propaganda machine supporting school vouchers, headquartered in the office of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, is determined not to let the facts get in the way of conservative ideological spin.

The press release for a report released Monday on the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program—a masterfully euphemistic name for a program that uses public funds to pay for private school education—is headlined: "Report Reaffirms Academic Gains for D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Participants."

The report actually says this:

After 2 years, there was no statistically significant difference in test scores in general between students who were offered an OSP scholarship and students who were not offered a scholarship. Overall, those in the treatment and control groups were performing at comparable levels in mathematics and reading.

The mean scores for D.C. Opportunity Scholarship students were a whole three points higher than the mean scores of students outside the program in reading (621.30 vs. 618.12). They were virtually identical in mathematics (614.09 vs. 613.85).

In fact, it is difficult to find anything in the actual report that would justify the claim that the 1,900 students in this voucher program—which the administration is seeking $18 million to continue—are better off than they would be if those same dollars—as well as the same parental engagement and other factors of school success—were invested in the public schools that these students would otherwise attend. (This is one reason D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has been a longtime opponent of the voucher program and, The Washington Post reports, is pressing to have it phased out.) ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/conservatives-cant-vouch-vouchers-will-mislead