Part 2: How well do vouchers serve students?
Editor's note: This is the second installment of a three-part analysis series.
The Louisiana Department of Education touts gains in student test scores in the Louisiana Scholarship Program that are closing the gap on the statewide public school average.
Independent studies from two groups on student achievement after enrolling in LSP-approved private schools bring questions about the program's efficacy to light. (The studies did not include the Tuition Donation Rebate Program or the School Choice Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities.)
“The Louisiana Federation for Children welcomes studies that attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of the Louisiana Scholarship Program, including the most recent evaluation from The Education Research Alliance,” Ann Duplessis, president of the Louisiana Federation for Children, said in a news release.
She said it's important to understand the conditions in which the program operated in 2012, starting with the Legislature approving the statewide program expansion in June of that year.
Duplessis said LSP schools did not receive information on their incoming students until later that summer, giving the schools little time to prepare. Additionally, a robust accountability system had not yet been created.
"Historically, private schools have not had to close achievement gaps within their student population, so remediation was a challenge especially when lacking new student academic data," she said. “Notably, all of these students previously attended failing and underperforming schools. They arrived at their scholarship schools with academic deficits and were assessed in the first year before academic gaps could be closed by the new school."
Part 1: Bills could alter voucher program
Studies show
The first study, released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, looked at student achievement on standardized tests by comparing the scores of students who were chosen by lottery versus the scores of students who applied but were not accepted to the program and subsequently stayed in a public school. It used students who applied in the 2012-13 school year. Atila Abdulkadiroglu, Parag A. Pathak and Christopher R. Walters used spring 2013 test scores.
The LDOE's accountability system grouped LEAP and iLEAP scores into five categories: Unsatisfactory, Approaching Basic, Basic, Mastery or Advanced. To be promoted to the next grade, fourth- and eighth-graders were required to score Approaching Basic or above in math and English language arts, and Basic or above in at least one subject. (The state now uses PARCC standardized tests instead of LEAP or iLEAP.)
In examining whether LSP fourth- and eighth-graders scored high enough on LEAP or iLEAP for grade advancement, the study found that "private schools more than double the likelihood that students fail to qualify for grade promotion. Voucher use reduces the probability of passing by 28.4 percentage points from a base of 78.6, implying a 133-percent increase in failures."
The study found across the board that attendance at LSP schools lowered academic achievement. Math scores fell the most, but reading, science and social studies scores also were reduced a year after the lottery. The downward shift of scores in all four subjects increased the likelihood of a failing score between 24 and 50 percent, regardless of family income or geographic location. The effects, however, were more pronounced in earlier grades.
The study noted that non-LSP students at the schools typically do not take the state tests.
A policy brief based on four studies released in February by the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans and the School Choice Demonstration Project found a "mixed picture."
Jonathan N. Mills, Anna J. Egalite and Patrick J. Wolf compiled the brief, which was based on studies that focused on the 2012-13 applicants and compared students chosen in the LSP lottery with those who applied but were not accepted. They found that "the program had a negative impact on participating students’ academic achievement in the first two years of its operation, most clearly in math. On the other hand, the results improved between the first and second years and, through market-based pressures, the program may have slightly increased students’ math scores in public schools, particularly those most affected by the competitive threat."
Researchers found that while the program helped reduce racial segregation, there was no evidence that it affected students' non-academic skills.
Closing the gap
The LDOE has highlighted that students have cut the performance gap between LSP schools and the statewide average from 32 percentage points in 2010-11 to 18 percentage points in 2014-15.
“Now, four years into the statewide expansion of the program, we are seeing significant academic gains. As a result of a robust accountability system, more students are attending higher performing schools, which has translated to overall increases in programwide scholarship student achievement,” Duplessis said.
According to the LDOE's annual report on nonpublic school choice programs, the LSP outpaced Louisiana’s statewide public school average on 2015 state assessments. If the LSP were considered a school system with a performance score, the LDOE said its 4.7 point growth from 54.3 in 2014 to 59.0 in 2015 would have ranked ninth among all school systems for annual performance improvement.
“The bottom line is that more scholarship schools are making progress with their most at-risk students, many of whom entered their schools one or more grade levels behind their new classmates," Duplessis said.
Parents statewide highly ranked the program, via a direct mail survey to LSP parents conducted by the Black Alliance for Educational Options and the Louisiana Federation for Children in April 2015. According to the Nonpublic School Choice Annual Report, more than 1,500 families positively ranked parental satisfaction, academic performance, student safety and school hospitality in the 90th percentile.
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