An evaluation of the systemic effects of the Ohio Educational Choice Scholarship Program
by Carr, Matthew, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS, 2009, 129 pages; 3361690

Abstract:

This evaluation focuses on the systemic effects of Ohio's fading schools voucher program, the Educational Choice Scholarship Program (EdChoice) on traditional public school academic performance. The research questions for this evaluation are as follows: (1) Will traditional public school buildings where students are eligible to use a voucher see significant changes on indicators of overall proficiency in math and reading than buildings not so threatened; (2) Will traditional public school buildings where students are eligible to use a voucher see significant changes on indicators of advanced or limited proficiency in math and reading than buildings not so threatened; and (3) Will traditional public school buildings where students are eligible to use a voucher see significant changes on indicators of administrative and personnel policies (proximal effects) than buildings not so threatened. A school fixed-effects regression design is used to evaluate data from 2003 to 2008, with a focus on the implementation of the program in 2006. Specifically, the model explicitly controls for potential stigma effects resulting from the public reporting of school performance ratings and for possible confounding effects from the federal No Child Left Behind law sanctions. Several proximal measures are also examined to gauge short-term operational changes in voucher-threatened schools. The results find few effects from the program on overall proficiency passage rates. However, voucher threatened schools made significant gains in the percentage of students moving out of the lowest performance category as well as the percentage of students moving into the highest performance category. Proximal effects models indicate that voucher threatened schools increased resources for staff support, reduced student truancy, and increased their focus on discipline.

 
Advisor
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
SourceDAI/A 70-06, p. , Oct 2009
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsEducational administration; Political Science
Publication Number3361690
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