Only around 2,000 were able to get in during its first year, in 1996. Thousands more parents remain hopeful that they, too, will be selected for vouchers and be empowered to choose the best educational opportunity for their children. Voucher students consistently show substantial academic gains. Harvard University researchers tested students from two independent schools, where we sit today, at HOPE Central Academy and HOPE New City. They tested in the fall and again in the spring.
Most HOPE students come from very poor, inner-city neighborhoods.
These HOPE students showed overall test score improvements, with large gains in math and reading skills. These results confirm earlier studies which found substantial academic progress by voucher students in a similar program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Last spring, the Ohio House Education Committee held hearings right here at HOPE Central Academy to discuss the voucher program. The testimony from parents at those hearings should resound with Ohio lawmakers. She said, Going to HOPE Central has made a dramatic change.