|
 |
3/27/2009
Is the voucher glass half full or half empty?
Here's Ed Garvey, touting yesterday's Journal-Sentinel article that skimmed the surface of the most recent research work on performance in voucher schools. Garvey quoted from the article, touting "no overall statistical difference between performance of voucher school kids and MPS kids." He of course makes no mention (from the J/S article) that: ...one of the studies being released uses a formula that factors in the number of school choices available to MPS students to conclude that, by a small margin, MPS results are better now than they otherwise would be because of the presence of voucher schools. Or that:
To summarize several of the studies, they show that the voucher system is educating children at less cost than MPS.
And of course, Garvey doesn't make his way to the research (imagine that), as the MacIver Institute made sure it did.
Despite what the headline writers at the Journal Sentinel say, there is more to this than just Choice students and MPS students are performing at roughly the same level. Dig a little deeper and look what you find:
... All school children in Milwaukee are doing better because of the Milwaukee School Choice Program (MPCP). Patrick Wolf, principal investigator of the School Choice Demonstration Project, remarked that the Choice Program "has produced a rising tide that has lifted all boats". Back when the program started, many involved hoped competition would help MPS improve.
Interesting that Mr. Garvey's piece points readers to the Journal-Sentinel; the brief MacIver piece points readers to the study.
All of the reports can be found here: http://www.uaedreform.org/SCDP/Milwaukee_Research.html.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
"And of course, Garvey doesn't make his way to the research (imagine that), as the MacIver Institute made sure it did."
Please, Ms Egelhoff, let me send you a couple more straws to grasp at. Just because the MacIver Institute refers to the actual research study is supposed to matter how, other than your seemingly apparent attempt to simply dismiss Mr Garvey's article out of hand? I thought the MJS article reported the research study fairly well.
What all of this voucher vs. public school controversy fails to address is the, No Child Left Behind, "effect," that all our schools have been subjected to for quite a bit longer than the two years of the voucher research study. Rather than raising all boats, I see that WI elementary education, because of this unfunded mandate, has simply been sunk to the lowest common denominator, to the detriment of all of our children.
non quixote (Fri Mar 27 10:17:51 2009)
Here's another study the Journal Sentinel does a good job in reporting - It's not NCLB we need to worry about, but the comparatively low standards set by the state of Wisconsin in response to NCLB. And as long as you mentioned boats and common denominators, Rose Fernandez addresses the need for higher standards concisely and constructively.
The Journal Sentinel does a fine job reporting the 2nd year Choice Study. But of necessity of course, doesn't cover all the bases, just as Ed didn't. Just as I didn't. It's here. Read it and report the details, just as MacIver did.
Jo (Fri Mar 27 10:46:23 2009)
Your initial question remains unanswered by the post that you follow with.
Except that there is slim, if any, even circumstantial evidence that voucher schools have been the factor that has "raised all boats," in that analogy.
I have been following this race closely and Ms Fernandez's touting of the real value of voucher schools has ended up simply being that value of the financial enrichment of private sector interests at the expense of regular public schools.
Without institution of equal student testing and result reporting requirements and equal requirements for teacher educational certifications (BS/BA TC's minimum) and, without equal liability of voucher schools for providing services to special needs students, the burden of which is currently shouldered by public schools, there can be no real meaningful comparison of her platform positions in relation to the status quo, which we both agree needs serious reform on several levels.
Rose Fernandez's platform, in a nutshell, is privatize public resources, bust unions, penalize teachers left trying to educate the most difficult and intractable students with the least support behind them in terms of finances, family and community. Fight any fair and transparent evaluation of private services provided. GOP party line, ad nauseam.
non quixote (Fri Mar 27 17:19:43 2009)
|
|
Blog Archives
| 2010 |
  December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
• Basketball fans eyeing extension of Miller Park sales tax
• Nanny sex-ed bill goes to Doyle
• A first. Village limits pension contribution for employees
• Nanny State update: Toothbrushing mandated
• Obama pushes education inflation
• WI Investment Board votes to borrow to juice up returns
• So Republicans have brought nothing to the table?
• You have got to be kidding me
• Nygren: Governor Continues Terms of Failure in State of the State
• Sen. Fitzgerald: Governor down the wrong track at high speed
• Phosphorus is the new CO2. $Billions in Wisconsin
• More Obama giveaways
• A reprimand? Would you keep him on the job?
• Burri: Sarah Palin for Prez troubles me
• Quote of the Day – Obama after the pie-eating contest
• Populism, abused and trampled
• Fitzgerald: Senate Republicans Propose Real Job Creation Agenda
• Stripped down health insurance – it’s about time
• Ok GOP, scrap the Party of NO; time to lead
• No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
• Burri: Conservatives off the chart for a RINO?
• Paltry quid pro quo?
• Doyle says ARRA has ‘created or retained’ 44,000 WI jobs
• Does most of the public fall for this stuff?
• When you get signatures, always get a couple extra
• Blame it on the outmoded computers
• Scott Brown victory does not scuttle health bill
• 8th Congressional Candidate Forum, Jan. 25
• Scott Walker Meet-and-greet, Monday, Jan. 18
• Aren’t consumers taxpayers too?
• MORE taxes on investment income - dreadful and wrong
• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
• Tax on banks is a really bad idea
• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
• Savard speaking in Appleton, 8 PM, Wed., Jan. 13.
• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
• Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
• School contracts and Race to the Top
• Senator Feingold worrisome and big red flags
• Psephological?
• This is really important. Contact Rep. Kagen. Now. Please.
• This is exactly what we need from Governor Doyle
• This guy is my hero
• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
|
| 2009 |
December
|
November
|
October
• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
|
| 2008 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
• Voting is a PRIVILEGE. And so are property taxes....
• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
|
February
|
January
|
| 2007 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
|
| 2006 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
| 2000 |
May
|
|
