If Peterson's analysis is correct, we may be one step closer to making that vision a reality. . . . Older students are more likely than younger ones to skip school, ignore homework, fail courses, and drop out of school entirely. The study by University of Kentucky professor Eugenia Froedge Toma was published in the April 1996 edition of the Journal of Law and Economics . After controlling for individual student characteristics, school characteristics, and characteristics of peers in the schools, Toma finds that private schools outscore public schools even when the private schools are publically funded by vouchers. If Toma is correct, the implications for school choice programs here at home are clear.
School vouchers can indeed improve student achievement.
But educational quality may suffer if government expands its regulatory authority over private schools. Joseph Walsh is executive director of the Center for Rebuilding America's Schools.