BY The Cincinnati Enquirer
CLEVELAND - Second-year tuition voucher students did significantly better than public school students on language tests, but about the same in other courses, researchers reported Tuesday.
The study by the Indiana Center for Evaluation at Indiana University was commissioned by the state, which runs the voucher experiment. The program, challenged in court as unconstitutional, provides up to $2,500 each in state money for 3,000 Cleveland youngsters who attend 57 non-public schools.
"In general, scholarship students performed significantly better than public school students in language and less measurably better in science, but otherwise there are no significant differences in reading, mathematics or social studies," center Director Kim Metcalf said.
Ms. Metcalf said it wasn't clear if the performance gap was a one-time difference or the start of a wider gap. The program deserves further testing to determine that, he said.
The study was based on a McGraw-Hill Terra Nova standardized test given to fourth-graders: 94 students attending non-public schools with vouchers for a second year and 343 public school students. The study didn't attempt to check a wide variety of factors, such as parental involvement, which will be studied as part of the third year of the oversight program.
State Rep. C.J. Prentiss, D-Cleveland, a longtime voucher program critic, said the results weren't sufficient to justify the $15 million the state spent on vouchers and related costs over two years.
The money instead should be used for proven ways of improving student performance, such as all-day kindergarten, teacher training and small class size, she said.
