Why voucher advocates are allergic to standardized tests
In Pennsylvania, Republican legislators are pushing through a school vouchers bill that would divert increasingly scarce state education dollars to private and parochial schools. The move itself is controversial, but at the moment I’d like to focus on one particular aspect of the debate, as reported by the Hazleton Standard Speaker:
“The panel defeated an amendment by Sen. John Blake, D-22, Archbald, to have choice students who attend a private or parochial school take the Pennsylvania State Standardized Assessment given periodically in public schools. That way there would be an equitable standard to measure academic performance, he added.”
Now why would school-choice advocates reject a proposal to have voucher recipients take the same test as their public-school peers? That seems peculiar. If a private school accepts money from the state, it ought to at least be willing to demonstrate that taxpayers are getting value out of that investment, right? If you want to be good stewards of public money, you need some means of measuring performance.
In addition, since the whole idea behind school choice is, well, choice, it would seem essential to give students in public and private schools the same test, so that parents can try to compare outcomes.
Up in Wisconsin — where public-school students regularly rank among the highest in the nation on the SAT and ACT, Gov. Scott Walker is also proposing to broaden an existing voucher program, as the AP reports:
“Walker is proposing expanding the voucher program that currently is only available to low-income students in Milwaukee. He wants to expand the program to all of Milwaukee County and phase out the low-income qualifying ceiling.
He also wants to do away with a requirement that voucher students take the same statewide achievement tests as students in public schools.”
Hmmm. There it is again: Walker wants to abolish a requirement that schools accepting taxpayer vouchers agree to test its students just as public schools do. And these are not isolated incidents. Voucher advocates often oppose any requirement to subject voucher recipients to standardized testing.
The Milwaukee voucher program, for example, has been in existence since 1990, but the testing requirement was added only in 2006, and even then over the protest of Republican legislators. And now that they and Walker have regained power, they want that provision gone. The question is why.
The editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel solves the mystery:
“Last week, scores released by the state Department of Public Instruction showed that students in Milwaukee’s school choice program performed worse than or about the same as students in Milwaukee Public Schools in math and reading.
A day later, researchers at the University of Arkansas who have been tracking MPS and voucher students since 2005-’06 found that the two are performing roughly the same.”
Oh …. now it makes sense. They don’t want to mandate testing because that testing has demonstrated that students using vouchers are performing no better and perhaps worse than their public-school counterparts.
Again, the data go back only to 2005-2006 because until then, proponents of vouchers in Wisconsin had succeeded in blocking testing of students who used the program. That changed only after a major scandal erupted involving largely unregulated private schools.
As the Christian Science Monitor reported at the time:
“In one of the worst instances, a convicted rapist opened a school, which has since shut down. Reporters from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tried to visit all 115 schools then in the program last year, and found a mixed bag. Nine schools refused to let reporters in, and the paper cited “10 to 15 others where … the overall operation appeared alarming when it came to the basic matter of educating children.”
One school was opened by a woman who said she had a vision from God to start a school, and whose only educational background was as a teacher’s aide. Others had few books or signs of a coherent curriculum. Yet they’ve been able to enroll students.”
And here’s an AP report on Milwaukee voucher schools from that same time frame:
“The schools are required to report virtually nothing about their methods to the state, or to track their students’ performance. Proponents say that frees the schools from onerous bureaucracy. But some say the lack of oversight makes them a prime target for abuse.
At the Mandella Academy for Science and Math, school officials admitted signing up more than 200 students who never showed and then cashing $330,000 in state-issued tuition checks, which the principal used to buy, among other things, Mercedes-Benzes for himself and the assistant principal.
Meanwhile, Alex’s Academics of Excellence received $2.8 million in voucher money over three years before the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the school’s founder, James A. Mitchell, served nearly a decade in prison for a 1971 rape. Unlike their counterparts at public schools, principals and teachers at private schools do not have to undergo criminal background checks.”
Theoretically, the marvels of the free market were supposed to run places such as “Alex’s Academics of Excellence” out of business. Instead, government was forced to intervene, because what happens in theory and what happens in reality are often two different things. But in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, loyalty to theory is once again carrying the day.
– Jay Bookman
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470 comments Add your comment
GeeMac
April 28th, 2011
9:00 am
Jay, you may want to ask Maureen to put this up over at Schooled, where I’m sure it will get responses. It’s amazing to me, a public school teacher, how increasingly obvious it is that Republicans want to completely dismantle public education.
Cletus
April 28th, 2011
9:00 am
There is a mountain of research data also, including a study done for the Department of Education during the George W. Bush administration, which shows that charter school students do no better than regular public school students on standardized performance tests of this type. Of course, the charter school advocates never seem very eager to talk about this data.
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:04 am
I think so too, GeeMac. The opening salvo is always “do it for the poor kids in bad urban schools — don’t you want to help them?” But that is cynical exploitation from people who otherwise don’t really seem to care much about poor people in urban areas. The goal is always to use that as a wedge and then expand it, as Walker is now attempting to do in Wisconsin.
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:27 am
Jay…..you believe that having options for your education is a bad thing? Were you forced into which college you wanted to attend?
Left wing management
April 28th, 2011
9:29 am
Neoliberalism unleashed in even more virulent form. If there’s no counteroffensive, we won’t even recognize this society in another decade.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:31 am
Well I for one agree with the school testing if they get public funds…. and if the test isn’t a good test for one reason or another, then the test needs to be changed.
USinUK
April 28th, 2011
9:32 am
“Neoliberalism unleashed in even more virulent form. If there’s no counteroffensive, we won’t even recognize this society in another decade.”
yep. we’ll all be marvelling at how rubbing sticks together causes FIYAH!!!
(not to mention, we’ll stumble upon the statue of liberty half buried on a beach)
oy.
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:33 am
I know for a fact that most of the teachers hate the CRCT testing that is going on this week.
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:35 am
People do have options, UGA. They just don’t have taxpayers pay for them.
As to college, I went to Penn State because I could pay in-state tuition and my family was in no position to help financially. I didn’t expect the state of Pennsylvania to pay my tuition to some Ivy League school. I went to the school they provided.
Peadawg
April 28th, 2011
9:35 am
My question is if they are receiving fund directly from the state…how are they a private school? Or are they receiving funds indirectly through kids that choose to go there and use vouchers? If it’s the second, then they are still a private school and shouldn’t be required to give Standardized tests.
Gordon
April 28th, 2011
9:35 am
Where is the correlation between education spending and student performance? In most cases, lousy parents are to blame. But since lots of lousy parents vote, we pretend the problem is not enough money and poor teachers.
Road Scholar
April 28th, 2011
9:36 am
UGA1999: We have choice now w/o vouchers!!!! No one forced you to attend UGA (if you really did) or forced me to attend Tech.We have choices when we buy a car; the only ones we won’t buy is ones that are lemons or ones we can not afford. Right?
Soothsayer
April 28th, 2011
9:37 am
Jay, if they can avoid testing, then the logic and impetus for not having to go to school with “Those People” disappears doesn’t it?
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:37 am
Jay 9:35 – I think a hammer just got dropped.
Doggone/GA
April 28th, 2011
9:37 am
“The opening salvo is always “do it for the poor kids in bad urban schools — don’t you want to help them?””
And MY answer is always: YES, I DO want to help them. I want to see them get the same kind and quality of facilities, and the same amount of money per student as do other “better” schools.
GeeMac
April 28th, 2011
9:38 am
Just making sure I have this straight…Take money from public schools and give to private/charter/parochial via vouchers, but do not require any accountability of the recipients to demonstrate that the money is being used to improve educational outcomes for the students. Meanwhile,continue to pressure public schools to demonstrate accountability through numerous standardized tests so that they can continue to be labeled “failing” so that the conservatives can bolster their argument for vouchers, and thus the vicious circle goes on and on…Is that about right?
Road Scholar
April 28th, 2011
9:38 am
“is” should be “are”! The coffee is slow to act this morning!
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:38 am
Jay…..Hmmmmm…..so this is funny coming from the left that they are not asking for assistance or government help.
I believe the education of our youth is vital to the growth and prosperity of this county. Regardless of leadership in Washington. If a parent feels that the government schools are failing (which they are) why not offer them an option?
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:41 am
Poor parenting is a big part of the problem, Gordon. Only thing is, I don’t know how to fix that, do you? Stripping people of access to family planning, as the attack on Planned Parenthood attempts to do, would only make that problem worse.
Schools have to deal with the children we send them, and with the parents of those children as well. It’s in everybody’s interest to help those kids overcome the disinterest and worse of their parents, and schools are the only place where that can happen.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:42 am
good news…. in particular the last bit in relation to deferred compensation
Anyone interested in the extent to which Wall Street pay has changed in recent years should read the most recent column by the WSJ’s Dennis Berman.
Berman sat down with an anonymous Wall Street “paymaster” and got a blow-by-blow of compensation for median mid-career i-bankers pre- and post-crisis. As one would expect there are a lot of moving parts — total comp has come down, bonuses have come down and salaries have gone up.
But if you crunch the numbers a step further, you come up with two telling data points: 36% and 49%. Those figures represent the share of total compensation that is deferred. Back in the salad days of 2007, slightly more than one-third of pay didn’t vest for at least a year. Now, almost half of all wages fall into that category.
In most cases, if a banker leaves before those payouts come due, they forfeit that money. As Berman points out, that has a “chilling” effect on how Wall Street workers think about career moves and how banks and brokerages think about hiring.
In other words, whether bankers earn more or less these days is a bit of a moot question. Banking is, and will continue to be, a lucrative profession.
What’s more notable is that the war for talent on Wall Street has slowly switched from an arms race — marked by ever-increasing bonus bombs — to something more subtle and strategic.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:43 am
Jay 9:41 – ask and you shall receive
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-23/chicago-economist-s-crazy-idea-for-education-wins-ken-griffin-s-backing.html
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:43 am
Well put, GeeMac. By jove I think you’ve got it!
Road Scholar
April 28th, 2011
9:43 am
UGA1999: “feel”? And what role should the parents play to better the education of their child and other attendees and the school they attend?I agree with you about the betterment of the children’s education, but teachers are not just baby sitters, they have to be “assisted” by the parents! How about setting goals, creating expectations, rewarding good behavior and disciplining their child? I’ll even throw in setting a good example.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:44 am
Jay 9:41 – “Students selected to attend the Griffin school are enrolled in the free, all-day preschool. Children in another group aren’t enrolled in the school, while their guardians take courses at a “parenting academy” and receive cash or scholarships valued at up to $7,000 annually as a reward. “
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:44 am
Jay…..so your resolution to poor parenting is to kill more babies???? WOW
The only way to create a better future for all children is educations.
GeeMac
April 28th, 2011
9:44 am
UGA1999 – Not all government schools are failing. Poverty is the problem. And consistent cuts to education funding has created impoverished schools, mostly in already impoverished communities. Money is not the only answer, and taxpayers should expect a decent return on their investment, but schools alone cannot overcome neglectful parenting.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:45 am
Jay 9:43 / Geemac – I disagree. I think that is certainly the agenda of some Republicans. Not all of them. And I don’t know the split and I can’t hazard a guess (and neither can anyone else).
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:46 am
That’s great, jm. I hope that shows results. I think schools ought to offer, for example, classes to teach new parents how to read to their children, and give them books to do so. If you as a parent haven’t grown up in an environment in which that happens, you have no role model and no idea how important it can be, even if you want to do the right thing.
TaxPayer
April 28th, 2011
9:46 am
Well, the Republicans are sure enough continuing to educate me. Where do they draw their lines or do they.
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:47 am
Contraception, UGA.
So much for trying to have a civil discussion, huh?
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:48 am
GeeMac….I guess that depends on your definition of “failing”. Poverty may be part of the problem but the root cause always goes back to education. Neglectful parenting can be tied to many more issues than just education as well.
Left wing management
April 28th, 2011
9:49 am
Buon giorno, USinUK!
Gordon: ” In most cases, lousy parents are to blame. But since lots of lousy parents vote, we pretend the problem is not enough money and poor teachers.”
But, Gordon, you’ve fallen prey to another error: namely, the notion that because not all our problems are due to lack of money, i.e. some are cultural, societal, that THEREFORE the solution can’t consist of providing more money. That’s a false conclusion.
Gordon
April 28th, 2011
9:49 am
Jay,
No, I don’t know how to fix poor parenting. But I do think we can stop pretending that more money and expansion of the federal government’s role in education will do it. It hasn’t, and it won’t.
The first thing we could do is tell the truth about what the problem really is. How about actually paying people to NOT have kids?
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:49 am
Jay…..I have NO issue with contraception. We actually agree. But you made no mention of contraception in your post…only planned parenthood and the rights issues with it. The right does not have an issue with contraception, as a matter of fact we believe it that philosophy as much if not more than the left.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:49 am
Jay 9:46 – agreed.
Normal
April 28th, 2011
9:51 am
UGA1999,
You called me a moron downstairs for my opinion, so it’s my turn to ask..is your Nom de Blog the year you flunked out?
Jay
April 28th, 2011
9:51 am
Most of what Planned Parenthood does is contraception and women’s reproductive health, UGA, and ALL of what it does with federal money falls into that category.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:51 am
One perspective in regards to the real crux of the problem and the solution.
U.S. Teachers Are Failing, So Are Their Critics: Chris Farrell
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=adGpo5bfDHn0
Adam
April 28th, 2011
9:52 am
I don’t agree that standardized testing should be used as a sole or primary method to measure educational performance in many cases. For example, math might not be your thing as a student, maybe it never will be. Standardized tests marginalize students who would otherwise excel in more abstract and non-quantifiable areas. However that’s really not a reason to allow schools to exist that provide no feedback on education whatsoever. There has to be more to it. Statistics are fine and all that, but rarely do standardized tests really mean much other than test taking capabilities.
But I do agree with the rest of your piece, highlighting private school abuse and how the free market promotes abuse rather than solves it.
stands for decibels
April 28th, 2011
9:53 am
they want that provision gone. The question is why.
Here is your answer, from a man who went to heck and back to get what was his…
Lil' Barry Bailout
April 28th, 2011
9:54 am
In Pennsylvania, Republican legislators are pushing through…
——
If your only source of news was Jay’s column, you’d think the only party doing anything anywhere was Republicans. Apparently the Democrats are the do-nothing party.
getalife
April 28th, 2011
9:55 am
The gop attack education because lets face it.
They get the uneducated votes.
The dumber the people, the more votes they get.
I mean who in their right mind would vote to steal their own Medicare in another privatization scam.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:55 am
In regards to the last bloomberg article. I’m going to knock it out in the private sector for 10 more years (at least). Then I’ll consider teaching.
My stepfather (who was a principal) asked me the other day: how much is enough? Well, I don’t come at the world from the same perspective, but I do think teaching would be something to seriously consider after having done pretty well (if).
Of course, turning someone such as myself loose in a high school economics or math class might terrify the liberal teaching establishment.
Adam
April 28th, 2011
9:55 am
Did we really just turn the debate to Planned Parenthood (90%, #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement) in ONE PAGE?
(ir)Rational
April 28th, 2011
9:55 am
I simply want to know how accurate standardized tests are at measuring a student’s achievements and progress? Giving standardized tests, at least when I was in school, pushed the teachers into only teach the test. Even the best teachers I had would only focus on the test. It didn’t always help either. There were some people who were very smart who couldn’t take a test like that, and some that were not so smart that could take the tests well and it showed them being much better students than they were. Maybe the problem isn’t vouchers, government schools, private schools, or charter schools, but the standardized tests themselves.
USinUK
April 28th, 2011
9:56 am
LWM – bonjour!
okay, after last night’s storms … and today’s education (and, evidently, contraceptive) political storms, I give you a dose of cuteness
http://www.buzzfeed.com/burnred/cute-corgis-want-to-watch-the-royal-wedding-281t
UGA1999
April 28th, 2011
9:57 am
So Jay again…are we discussing contraceptives are abortion? Just say it….dont beat around the bush.
jm
April 28th, 2011
9:57 am
Adam 9:52 – standardized testing works just fine for Asia and Europe which are both kicking our tails academically. If you have a better solution, or a model and tool to read all the neurons in a high schooler’s brain, then I think there’s a business opportunity out there for you.
Gordon
April 28th, 2011
9:58 am
Jay,
I agree with your sentiments on wanting to improve parenting by offering classes, but the problem is this: if a person had the desire to attend such a class, 95% of the problem would have already been solved. The problem for most of the poor isn’t lack of information on how to be better parents, it is the lack of desire. I know how cynical that sounds, but my wife works as a school nurse in a public school and she has just seen to much to pretend any longer. I understand that the problem is passed down from generation to generation and I am no better than they are (I would be the same if raised in the same environment), but that doesn’t change the situation. Parental accountability is what is missing here – not lack of resources.
poison pen
April 28th, 2011
9:58 am
Doggone/GA
April 28th, 2011
9:37 am
“The opening salvo is always “do it for the poor kids in bad urban schools — don’t you want to help them?””
And MY answer is always: YES, I DO want to help them. I want to see them get the same kind and quality of facilities, and the same amount of money per student as do other “better” schools.
Darn, I must of not had enough coffee, I’m agreeing with Doggone again.