ERIC Number: ED511697
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Apr
Pages: 32
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The MPCP Longitudinal Educational Growth Study: Third Year Report. SCDP Milwaukee Evaluation Report #15
Witte, John F.; Cowen, Joshua M.; Fleming, David J.; Wolf, Patrick J.; Condon, Meghan R.; Lucas-McLean, Juanita
School Choice Demonstration Project
This is the third-year report in a five-year evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). The MPCP, which began in 1990, provides government-funded vouchers for low-income children to attend private schools in the City of Milwaukee. The general purposes of the evaluation are to analyze the effectiveness of the MPCP in terms of longitudinal student achievement growth and educational attainment as measured by high school graduation rates. The former will be primarily accomplished by measuring and estimating student growth in achievement as measured by the Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations (WKCE) in math and reading in 2006-07, grades 3 through 8 over a five-year period. The latter will be accomplished by following the 2006-07 8th and 9th grade cohorts over a five-year period or longer. The general research design consists of a comparison between a random sample of MPCP students and a matched sample of Milwaukee Public School (MPS) students. This third year report presents results from the November 2008 WKCE tests as second year student achievement growth in MPCP relative to the matched MPS sample. We provide varying descriptive statistics comparing test score means and distributions for math and reading for 2006-07 (baseline year) and 2008-09 (second outcome year) for each sample. The report also analyzes achievement growth using several multivariate techniques and models. The primary finding in all these comparisons is that, in general, there are few statistically significant differences between levels of MPCP and MPS student achievement growth in either math or reading two years after they were carefully matched to each other. In one of the ways of estimating these results, focusing only on those students who have remained in the public or private sector for all three years, private, voucher students are slightly behind MPS students in mathematics achievement growth. The report offers several cautions in interpreting this result against the overwhelming set of results that indicate no difference in achievement growth. Appended are additional tables and study attrition. (Contains 9 tables, 2 figures, and 7 footnotes.) [Additional funding for this project was provided by the Robertson Foundation.]
Descriptors: Private Schools, Private Sector, Graduation Rate, Evaluation, Mathematics Achievement, Educational Attainment, Scores, Educational Vouchers, Low Income Groups, Academic Achievement, Public Schools, Statistical Significance, Reading Achievement, Educational Change, School Choice, Probability, Equations (Mathematics), Attrition (Research Studies)
School Choice Demonstration Project. Department of Education Reform, University of Arkansas, 201 Graduate Education Building, Fayetteville, AR 72701. Tel: 479-575-3172; Fax: 479-575-3196; e-mail: edreform@uark.edu; Web site: http://www.uark.edu/ua/der/SCDP.html
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Annie E. Casey Foundation; Joyce Foundation; Kern Family Foundation; Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation; Walton Family Foundation
Authoring Institution: University of Arkansas, School Choice Demonstration Project (SCDP)
Identifiers - Location: Arkansas; Wisconsin
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examinations
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
What Works Clearinghouse Reviewed: Meets Evidence Standards with Reservations
WWC Study Page: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/study/67298
IES Cited: ED511699