Category: Education

by Larry Sand   The Good A new study published by the Urban Institute reveals that students who attend private schools through a school choice program are more likely to graduate from college. The report, The Effects of Ohio’s EdChoice Voucher Program on College Enrollment and Graduation, joins a growing list of empirical studies that demonstrate school choice improves academic outcomes, increases parental satisfaction, and saves taxpayer money. EdChoice students were more likely to enroll in college than students who remained in public school by a 64% to 48% margin. Additionally, enrollment for EdChoice students at a four-year college outpaced their public school counterparts: 45% to 30%. Longer participation in the program yielded even greater benefits—students who remained there for at least four years were 44% more likely to enroll in college than their public school peers. Groups that benefited most from EdChoice were blacks, boys, students who experienced long-term childhood poverty, and students with below-median test scores before leaving public school. The college enrollment rate among black scholarship recipients increased by 18%, compared to 13% for white students. Students who spent more than three-quarters of their lives in poverty saw their rate of college attendance increase by 17%, seven points higher than students from less impoverished backgrounds. In other…