US Dept. of Education Final Report on D.C. Vouchers

Using a Voucher Did Not Improve Student Academic Achievement.

1. The use of a voucher had no statistically significant impact on overall student achievement in math or reading.  
2. In all four years of the study, the use of a voucher resulted in no statistically significant improvement in reading or math for “students who applied from schools in need of improvement (SINI), the group Congress designated as the highest priority for the Program.”
3. The use of a voucher had “no impacts on math achievement for any of the six subgroups examined.”
4. In all four years of the study, students who used the voucher and who either entered the program from a SINI school or, who entered the program in the lower one-third of the applicant test-score performance distribution showed no  improvement in reading.       
5. Ultimately, three subgroups of students (females, students entering the Program from non-SINI schools, and students  entering the program with test scores in the higher two-thirds of the applicant test-score performance distribution) who  used the voucher may have shown improvement in reading.  But, “those findings may be due to chance,” are  possibly “false discoveries,” and “should be interpreted with caution.”   

U.S. Dep’t of Education, Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Final Report (June 2010).

Source:  2010 U.S. Dep’t of Ed. Report at xv, 35-40; 2009 U.S. Dep’t of Ed. Report at xviii, xxvi, xxiv-xxx, 35, 40; 2008 U.S. Dep’t of Ed. Report at 34-38; 2007 U.S. Dep’t of Ed. Report at xviii, xx, 44, 46


To view other results of the Final Report, click here.