Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Media Spin About Vouchers « Diane Ravitch's blog

Media Spin About Vouchers « Diane Ravitch's blog:


Media Spin About Vouchers

The Wall Street Journal has an odd article today trumpeting “A Generation of School Voucher Success” by voucher advocate Paul Peterson of Harvard and Matthew Chingos of the Brookings Institution.
The article is based on a study of a privately funded voucher program in New York City and its effects on college enrollments of those who received vouchers.
The study concluded that “Overall, no significant impacts are observed.”
However, there were statistically significant gains in the college enrollment rates of black students, and statistically insignificant gains for Hispanics.
Why the difference? It’s not clear, but consider what the study says about the two groups compared: