Myth of "creaming" and school choice

March 16, 2004

In Townhall.com's C-log this week, they report on the "creaming argument" that schools of choice (usually charter schools and recipients of voucher students) "cream" the best and the brightest from the public school population.

The traditional argument is that public schools will suffer because only the best students will make the choice to switch to a school of choice, either to a private school using a voucher, or to a charter school. Because of this fear, the argument is made to not permit parents their choice of school.

As is often the case with any argument against freedom of choice, there is little data to support this assertion. Townhall's Patrick McDougal reports:

When faced with evidence that charter schools deliver better academic results than public schools, opponents of school-choice have argued that charter schools skim the cream of the student population, thus resulting in skewed results.  A study [pdf] released today by the Goldwater Institute contradicts that assertion:

"Findings indicate that charter school students, on average, began with lower test scores than their traditional public school counterparts, and showed overall annual achievement growth roughly three points higher than their non-charter peers. Charter school students who completed the twelfth grade surpassed traditional public school students on SAT-9 reading tests."

Lest you think that this is yet another biased study, reporting all is coming up roses, the review of charter schools was mixed, for "high-school achievement growth actually favors public school attendees."

Shocking! Actually, we think results like this help bring some sanity to the debate. No, charter schools are not all universally better than public schools, and no, they all aren't creaming off the best students. The entire point of charter schools is they offer parents yet another choice (where there currently is next to none).

An interesting phenomena happens when you increase the avenues of choice: it acts like a lubricant in the cogs of the educational market. Just as freedom is better than bondage, and free trade is better than tariffs and quotas, a free market improves the lot for everyone. "A rising tide lifts all boats."

Freedom is egalitarian, and thus serves everyone, not just the well off.

Free up the market for charter schools, and (surprise!) you'll find charter schools springing up to serve vocational students, at-risk youth, the physically handicapped, students interested in the arts, and all sorts of academically-oriented students.

You'll even find charter schools specifically serving disciplinary students who've been expelled from public school! While it may seem counter-intuitive that anyone would open a school for disciplinary students, don't forget one key aspect of the free market: entrepreneurs will always offer solutions where there's demand.

Ironically, what are fairly rare are charter high schools which are academically head-and-shoulders above their public school peers, for by law charter schools in most states must enroll whomever registers (with waiting lists and lotteries when demand exceeds capacity). This open-enrollment policy keeps charter schools grounded in reality.

As for "creaming"? It's yet another myth.