Monday, October 7, 2013

Vouchers don’t do much for students - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com

Vouchers don’t do much for students - Stephanie Simon - POLITICO.com:

Vouchers don’t do much for students

Students are pictured entering a school in Indiana. | AP Photo
Students in 16 states plus D.C. are paying for private school with public subsidies. | AP Photo
Ever since the administration filed suit to freeze Louisiana’s school voucher program, high-ranking Republicans have pummeled President Barack Obama for trapping poor kids in failing public schools.
The entire House leadership sent a letter of protest. Majority Leader Eric Cantor blistered the president for denying poor kids “a way into a brighter future.” And Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal accused him of “ripping low-income minority students out of good schools” that could “help them achieve their dreams.”

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But behind the outrage is an inconvenient truth: Taxpayers across the U.S. will soon be spending $1 billion a year to help families pay private school tuition — and there’s little evidence that the investment yields academic gains.
In Milwaukee, just 13 percent of voucher students scored proficient in math and 11 percent made the bar in reading this spring. That’s worse on both counts than students in the city’s public schools. In Cleveland,


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/vouchers-dont-do-much-for-students-97909.html#ixzz2h2wgsyxJ