Wwc Quick Review Of The Report Evaluation Of The Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program

"Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years" examined whether the "Opportunity Scholarship Program," which offers vouchers to students to attend private schools, improved the reading and math achievement of low-income students. The study analyzed data on about 1,500 K-12 students in the District of Columbia who applied for vouchers through the program in either 2004 or 2005. The study found that, after three years, students who were offered vouchers to attend private schools had reading scores about one-eighth of a standard deviation greater than control group members. This is roughly equivalent to 3.1 months of additional learning over three school years. The research described in this report is consistent with What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. WWC indicates the study's strength is that it is equivalent to a randomized controlled trial because the groups of students contrasted in the study were formed by random lottery. However, WWC indicates a caution of the study is more than 30% of the approximately 2,300 initial study participants were not able to be tested and are excluded from the analysis. [The following study is the focus of this "Quick Review": Wolf, P., Gutmann, B., Puma, M., Kisida, B., Rizzo, L., & Eissa, N. (2009). Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts after three years (NCEE 2009-4050). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (ED504783).].