Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States

This report involved a large scale analysis of 65-70% of the nation’s charter schools and found that average charter performance is equal to, or perhaps lower than, the performance of traditional public schools.

Gary Miron and Brooks Applegate, Western Michigan University

Miron’s and Applegate’s review of the report finds that the solid analytic approach employed and the comprehensive data set used make the report a valuable addition to the body of charter school research.

The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Montana

The Fiscal Impact of Tax-Credit Scholarships in Georgia

The Fiscal Impact of a Corporate & Individual Tax-Credit Scholarship Program on the State of Indiana

The Friedman reports which focus on Georgia, Montana and Indiana purport to demonstrate that programs awarding tax-credits to donors funding private school vouchers will reduce government expenditures and make the finance system more efficient.

Luis Huerta, Teachers College, Columbia University.

In his review, Huerta finds the reports' conclusions highly suspect and sharply criticizes them for presenting unsubstantiated claims and failing to adequately consider short- and long-term costs of such tax-credit programs.

The MPCP Longitudinal Educational Growth Study Second Year Report

This report on the second year of a five-year evaluation of the Milwaukee school voucher program finds no achievement growth differences between voucher schools and the Milwaukee Public Schools over a one-year period.

Casey Cobb

Cobb's review finds that the report's design and methods are sound, but its usefulness is limited by several factors, including a lack of clarity about the representativeness of the included voucher schools.

Correction

On June 24, 2009, the authors of the report under review brought to our attention an error in the original May 28, 2009 review of their work by Casey Cobb. Professor Cobb has revised his review accordingly. As revised, the review includes an important correction. In the initial review, Professor Cobb made an incorrect assumption about the sampling procedures used in the study. As a result, he drew the incorrect conclusion that the external validity of the findings was tempered by a non-random sample of MPCP students, and hence a non-representative sample of MPCP schools. As the study authors have pointed out, the MPCP sample was in fact drawn randomly.

Charter Schools in Eight States: Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration and Competition

This report on charter schools in eight states generally finds that charters have had only modest or insignificant effects on such things as student achievement, student attainment, integration and public school competition.

Derek C. Briggs

Briggs’s review finds some weaknesses in the data regarding some of the findings, but overall concludes that the report is of high quality and makes an important contribution to the empirical literature on charter school effectiveness.

Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years

The report finds that after three years, students in the D.C. voucher program showed modestly higher reading scores, but no significant difference in math scores when compared with a control group of students who didn’t get vouchers.

Martin Carnoy, Stanford University

Carnoy’s review points out that any change in scores is modest and provides little support for vouchers as a solution to D.C.’s educational problems. He suggests that the report could have done far better in analyzing the results and presenting them in a more nuanced fashion.

The Effect of Milwaukee's Parental Choice Program on Student Achievement in Milwaukee Public Schools

The report contends that competition from Milwaukee's private school voucher program has benefited Milwaukee public schools.

Gregory Camilli, Rutgers University

Camilli's review raises a number of questions about the statistical methods used in the report and concludes that any positive effect of competition is very small, if it exists at all.

Weighted Student Formula Yearbook 2009

The report examines 14 city school systems and one statewide one - Hawaii- that the report presents as reflecting "best practices" in implementing what it calls Weighted Student Funding reforms. The report is based on two underlying premises: (1) school budgets should be allocated directly to schools within a district, with the amount based on each child's needs; and (2) school principals should have full discretion on how to allocate those funds.

Bruce Baker, Rutgers University

The Baker review of the report finds that it cherry-picks evidence, lumps many different strategies under a single reform umbrella, ignores contradictory findings, and in one-third of its examples credits the reforms for outcomes that actually preceded the reforms themselves. Baker concludes that the report is reckless and irresponsible.

The Impact of Milwaukee Charter Schools on Student Achievement

This report finds that there are no math achievement gains and small gains in reading in students who attend Milwaukee charter schools when compared to traditional public schools. The report also found that there is no evidence that the presence of charter schools influences that performance in traditional public schools.

Robert Bifulco, Syracuse University

Though Bifulco finds that the methods used in the study have important strengths, he identifies several questions about the internal and eternal validity of the reported estimates. He indicates that this report is most informative when considered in the context of the larger body of research on charter schools. He finds the report's conclusion that charter schools "should not be expected to be the silver bullet that some reformers seek" to be reasonable.

The Fiscal Impact of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program: 2009 Update

This report examines issues concerning the funding formula used for the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and finds that it generates a net savings to taxpayers in Wisconsin but imposes a large fiscal burden on taxpayers in Milwaukee.

Christopher Lubienski, University of Illinois

Belfield finds that the report offers valuable insights on the fiscal impact of voucher programs. However, he questions the benefits and notes that the report omits some important factors which are essential in order for a more complete analysis to be done.

A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on How Vouchers Affect Public Schools

This report purports to present a summary of previous research about the competitive effect of vouchers on public schools. The report concludes that such competition improves public schools.

Christopher Lubienski, University of Illinois

Lubienski finds that the report misrepresents the research and selectively reads the evidence in some of the studies. He points out that the  majority of the studies cited were produced by voucher advocacy organizations and almost none were peer reviewed. Lubienski concludes that the report is actually “an overview that seems designed to build a pro-voucher argument rather than an evenhanded presentation of research.”

When Private Schools Take Public Dollars: What’s the Place of Accountability in School Voucher Programs?

This report examines the opinions of experts who are school choice advocates regarding accountability issues for private schools that accept public monies (vouchers).

Ernest House, University of Colorado at Boulder

House praises the report and says that it offers some useful insights. He credits the Fordham researchers with making an honest attempt to tackle the difficulties of holding private schools accountable.

An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification

This report finds that students who were assigned an alternatively certified teacher did no worse on achievement tests than students whose teacher came through the traditional teacher-education route. Moreover, the report concludes that there is no association between greater amounts of teacher training coursework and effectiveness in the classroom.

Sean P. Corocoran, New York University and Jennifer Jennings

In their review of this report, the authors find that the conclusions drawn by the report are not supported by the report’s actual data. They contend that few, if any, valid conclusions about teacher certification policy can be drawn from the Mathematica report and that any conclusions that are drawn tend to favor traditional certification routes.

The High Cost of High School Dropouts in Ohio

This report offers up “dropout recovery” charter schools as a solution to reduce Ohio’s dropout rates.

Sherman Dorn, University of South Florida

In his review of this report, Dorn finds that the data the report relies upon is grossly exaggerated when compared to Ohio state data regarding the number of students graduating from charter schools. In addition, Dorn points out that the report ignores a large body of useful charter school research. He recommends that policymakers seek out well-researched scholarship on this topic and not rely upon this report.

Related Information

Examining the Funding and Activities of Free Market Education Think Tanks

Truthiness in Education

Think Tanks At Risk For Corruption

Holding Think Tanks To High Standards

US Think-Tanks: Casualties In The War of Ideas

Far-Right "Think Tanks" (Propaganda Mills) – Who Are Those Guys?

Let The Buyer Beware [ Executive Summary | Full Report ]