Why This Matters
More than a million US students now participate in private school choice programs because of recent growth in vouchers, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and tax credits. Given the rapid expansion in these programs, it is important to understand how they affect the students who participate in these programs and the students who remain in public schools.
Studies of voucher programs in Ohio and other states have found negative impacts on participants’ state test scores. Our findings of positive impacts on college enrollment and degree attainment indicate that state test scores might not be the best way to judge the performance of private schools, which often have different curricula from public schools and might face different incentives to concentrate on than state examinations.
Ohio’s Educational Choice Scholarship program (EdChoice) has more than doubled in size in the past year since all students in the state, regardless of income or public school performance, became eligible. This study is based on data from when the program was limited to low-income students from low-performing public schools, and it is too early to know how higher-income students from higher-performing schools are faring in the universal program in place today.
What We Found
EdChoice students were substantially more likely to enroll in college than students who remained in public schools (64 versus 48 percent). The differences in college enrollment were especially large at four-year colleges (45 versus 30 percent) and selective colleges (29 versus 19 percent). The enrollment impacts were strongest for male students, Black students, students with below-median test scores before leaving public school, and students from the lowest-income families.
EdChoice Participants Are More Likely to Enroll in College and Earn Four-Year Degrees
EdChoice students were also substantially more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree (23 versus 15 percent). For both enrollment and graduation, we find suggestive evidence that effects are largest for the approximately 60 percent of EdChoice students who remained in the program for at least four years.
Additionally, the EdChoice voucher program had positive impacts on students who remained in public schools. Students in public schools that were eligible for the EdChoice voucher program experienced modestly higher college attendance and graduation rates, even though gains in standardized test scores appear limited. The effects were particularly pronounced for Black students and students from low-income families.
How We Did It
We tracked the college enrollment of more than 6,000 students who first participated in EdChoice between 2008 and 2014 and compared them with the outcomes of more than 500,000 students with similar demographic characteristics and student achievement who remained in public schools. We can track about 1,400 of these EdChoice students through potential college graduation. We also examine the college outcomes of students who remained in public schools that were affected by the program (because students were eligible for vouchers) compared with students whose public schools were not eligible.
