Christopher Lubienski reviews two recent voucher studies on behalf of the National Education Policy Center in this post. (The post summarizes the findings and contains links to Lubienski’s report.)
The two studies under review purport to show the success of vouchers. One was prepared by the pro-voucher Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, whose role is to cheerlead for vouchers. The other comes from the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas. Lubienski concludes that neither proves the success of vouchers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Does it matter? If it can’t be based on “data” they just go to Plan B, which is “choice”.
It’s foolproof. Privatization wins either way.
It’s amusing to watch them “evolve”. Online charters are a gigantic, expensive flop in Ohio and now they would like an “alternate” assessment for them, based on some non-data “feelings” they have, “voting with feet”, etc.
It’s endless. There is literally no way for “choice” to fail. They just move the goalposts.
If “data” doesn’t work it’s on to the second narrative!
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Any research should be conducted by a non-biased authentic institution of higher education. Nobody needs research from “think tanks” or “foundations” whose goals are to rubber stamp the “results” they want to see. That’s not research; that is propaganda.
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Exactly, so it should be mentioned here that another name for the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas which most accurately describes them is Walton University or Walmart U. That’s due to their source of funding and location in Arkansas, which is Walton country. Research sponsored by them should be taken with heaping spoonfuls of salt, since it’s like McDonalds’ Hamburger U sponsoring research which indicates junk food is really healthy for people.
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The research of Dr. Figlio at Northwestern found that vouchers didn’t work in Ohio. The Dayton Daily News reported on it, Monday, July 11, “Voucher Users Lag Peers on State Tests.” Fordham wrote the foreword, to the report, stating they were surprised. The reporter misstated the study results, relative to competition. Figlio drew no conclusion about a causal effect related to competition. “Educators when faced with families choosing other school, MIGHT ((my caps) align their resources differently.” The Ohio Department of Education spokesperson, Brittany Halpin, also attributed a conclusion to Figlio’s that did not exist.
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