Good News from 2003

Mona Charen has an excellent sampling of 2003's education follies, with both good and bad news.

The bad news? The usual suspects (bureaucrats and politicians) up to their predictable tricks, opposing choice in the form of vouchers and charter schools. The good news? A recent positive vote for vouchers in D.C. and great results from some recent studies on the role of competition and choice.

Florida's "A+" program provides that students in schools performing poorly in two out of four years get a voucher to attend a different public school or a private school. When the Manhattan Institute studied the effect of the program, it found that schools facing the lash of competition made much greater gains than schools permitted to plod on in the old way. A Harvard study of schools in Michigan, Arizona and Wisconsin has found the same thing. Amazing! Competition works better than monopoly. Adam Smith: Call your office.

Among the other good news in her column:

A rigorous 6-year study (complete with randomization and matched control and experimental groups) on vouchers in New York City concluded, "Students who received vouchers scored one grade level higher in reading and math than students in public school."

Public schools facing increased competition improve.

Students using vouchers to attend private schools outperform their peers.

Any questions?