And that's school choice that you never hear the defenders of the public school monopoly bring up. The New York City results show solid success in a voucher experiment that involved 1,300 lower-income students, principally minorities, in the fourth and fifth grade, chosen by lottery. He reports that students in the program gained 4 percentile points in reading, and 6 percentile points in math, compared to a control group of students who had applied, but did not win a spot in the program. Moreover, the schools have smaller class sizes, are more integrated, with less disruption, less fighting, less cheating, less tardiness and less racial conflict. There is more communication with parents.
Students do more homework.
Peterson, like Norquist, is a Democrat. National public opinion polls show that school voucher programs have become more popular over the years and are actually more popular with Democrats than Republicans. About half the population is now in favor, up from a about a quarter just five years ago. Moreover, a solid and growing majority of blacks favor the idea. This is a potential splitting wedge to the heart of the classic Democratic coalition.