292 - Evidence Shows School Choice Works by Jerry Ellig Schools ought to be more accountable for students educational achievement. Since emotions run high on whether funding should be portable, it may be useful to look at some evidence.
Vouchers provide such portability.
Vouchers and private scholarships are currently offered to low-income students in a number of cities and usually accomplish the objective of improving educational opportunities for those students most at risk. If the program produced such gains for all students, then over 12 years of schooling, it would eliminate more than half of the gap in reading performance and all of the gap in math performance between white and minority students. 1 Cleveland, Ohio has had a state-funded voucher program since 1996. At two new schools created to serve voucher students, test scores were 7 percentile points higher in reading and 15 percentile points higher in math on the California Achievement Test after two years. In contrast, percentile scores of inner-city public school students often fall by a point or two a year.