ERIC Number: ED664224
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Aug
Pages: 32
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Do Voucher Students Attain Higher Levels of Education? Extended Evidence from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. EdWorkingPaper No. 19-115
Patrick J. Wolf; John F. Witte; Brian Kisida
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the first modern private school choice program in the United States, has grown from 341 students attending 7 private schools in 1990 to 27,857 students attending 126 private schools in 2019. The MPCP has been subject to extensive study focused largely on student performance on standardized tests. This study presents new data on the college enrollment, persistence, and graduation of MPCP and MPS students who were tracked over 12 years beginning in 2006. MPCP participants are compared with a matched sample of MPS students who lived in the same neighborhood and had similar demographic characteristics and test scores at the beginning of the study. The collective evidence in this paper indicates that students in the MPCP program have greater educational attainment than the comparison group, as measured by college experience and outcomes. Most of the college attainment benefits of the MPCP are clear for both students who were in ninth grade at the beginning of the study, for whom positive attainment effects have previously been reported, and students who were initially enrolled in grades three through eight, who we examine here for the first time. As of 2018, MPCP students have spent more total years in a four-year college than their MPS peers. The MPCP students in the grade three through eight sample attained college degrees at rates that are statistically significantly higher than their matched MPS peers. [This report was funded by the Bill and Susan Oberndorf Foundation and Kate and Bill Duhamel.]
Descriptors: Educational Vouchers, Educational Attainment, School Choice, Private Schools, Enrollment, Academic Persistence, Graduation, Higher Education, Secondary School Students, Longitudinal Studies, Grade 9, Outcomes of Education, Academic Degrees, Program Effectiveness, Educational Assessment
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. Brown University Box 1985, Providence, RI 02912. Tel: 401-863-7990; Fax: 401-863-1290; e-mail: annenberg@brown.edu; Web site: https://annenberg.brown.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education; Secondary Education; Grade 9; High Schools; Junior High Schools; Middle Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Walton Family Foundation; Robertson Foundation; Foundation for Excellence in Education; Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation
Authoring Institution: Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Identifiers - Location: Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
WWC Study Page: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Study/93023
Author Affiliations: N/A