Rethinking the Welfare State: The prospects for ... - e-Library

Rethinking the selfare state 152
to their public school counterparts. 85 Cecilia Rouse found no signiflcant gains in reading
scores, but did find that voucher recipients demonstrated a 1.5 to 2.3 percentage point
gain in math scores over their public school counterparts for each year spent in private
school. 86 Finally, John Witte found no significant differences in reading and math scores
between the control group and the voucher recipients. 87 Several researchers believe that
Rouse employed the most sensitive methods of evaluation 88 and that her results are likely
the most reliable. Goodman argues that Witte’s research may have been subject to
selection biases, 89 while Neal has expressed concern over the data collection methods
employed by Peterson. 90 Therefore, a conservative conclusion to draw is that the
Milwaukee voucher program has produced modest gains in math, but has yet to produce
significant gains in reading achievement.
Hoxby argues that the Milwaukee program has generated efficiency gains in the
productivity of public schools. She determined the effects of the voucher program on
school productivity in three different categories of public schools. “Most treated” schools
were those in which at least two-thirds of the student population was eligible for
vouchers; “somewhat treated” schools were those in which fewer than two-thirds of the
student population was eligible for vouchers; “untreated schools” were public schools
that were not located in Milwaukee, were urban, had at least 25 percent of their students
eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and had black students comprise at least 15
percent of the student population. 91 She measured productivity by dividing a school’s
fourth grade score by its per-pupil spending in thousands of dollars. 92 Her findings
demonstrate that productivity, based on math achievement, grew by approximately 0.7
percentile points per thousand dollars between 1996–7 and 1999–2000 in the most treated
schools. A similar growth pattern is reported for achievements in science, social studies,
language and reading examinations. 93
In sharp contrast, however, Witte’s study of the Milwaukee school voucher
experiment found that these purported productivity gains were largely illusory. 94 Some
savings were experienced due to lower payroll because of high parental involvement in
the early years of the program. Additional savings resulted mainly from the relatively low
wages paid to teachers at private schools. As a result of such low wages, however, private
schools were largely unable to attract experienced certified teachers and teacher turnover
was extremely high—averaging approximately 20 percent per year from 1992 to 1995. 95
If the program were expanded to universal vouchers at present private school salaries,
Witte suggests that economic pressures would be likely to drive wages up, thereby
reducing the savings that were experienced by voucher-funded schools in the Milwaukee
regime. Witte concludes his study of the Milwaukee school voucher experiment with
skepticism regarding the promise of greater efficiency by private schools in the following
terms:
[T]here is no consistent and reliable evidence that the Choice students
differed in achievement from randomly selected MPS [public school]
students or Reject applicants. […] [R]esearchers professing such results
[of greater achievement at Choice schools] have a major responsibility to
outline the causal mechanism by which these miracles are to be
accomplished. Is it only their private school status? Is it only competition?
Because, if it is something they do differently and better, those of us who