Benefits of education choice programs are shown in almost all of the 188 empirical studies published from 1998 to February 2024.
The 123s of School Choice, originally published in 2019 and updated this June, gathers information from 188 empirical studies on choice programs—vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs), tax-credit scholarships—published from 1998 to February 2024.
Of the 188 studies, 163 of them, or 84 percent, show these programs have a positive effect. Just 11 studies, or six percent, show a negative effect, while 19 studies, or 10 percent, show no visible effect.
The report breaks these studies down into eight categories in two separate groups. The first group covers the personal benefits children and families utilizing choice programs experience. This includes participant test scores, participant educational attainment (whether they are more likely to graduate high school and attend college), parental satisfaction, and school safety.
Of the 17 studies on test scores, only two show any negative effect from the program in question, and 11 show a positive effect on test scores. Five of the seven studies on educational attainment show positive results, while two find no visible effect. Of the 33 studies on parental satisfaction, 31 find choice parents are more satisfied with their choice school than their previous school. Finally, all eight studies on school safety and climate show a positive effect from choice programs.
The second group covers the community and societal benefits of choice programs. This includes the fiscal effects of the programs, their effect on integration, how they affect participating students’ civic values and practices, and the effects these programs have on the test scores of students remaining in public schools. Sixty-nine of the 75 studies on the fiscal effects of these programs find a positive fiscal benefit from choice programs, with five finding a negative effect.
Seven of eight studies find choice programs increase school integration, with the other finding no statistical effect. Another six of 11 studies find choice programs improve students’ civic values and practices, with five showing a null effect. Lastly, 26 of 29 studies find the choice programs improve the test scores of students remaining in public schools, with one finding no effect, and two finding a negative effect.
It is probably for these reasons, and also because teacher unions repeatedly played politics with school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic in direct conflict with students’ best interests, that education choice is more popular with parents than ever before. Polling done by EdChoice for their ongoing “Public Opinion Tracker,” last updated on August 6, finds 70 percent of all adults, and 77 percent of school parents, are in favor of ESAs, for example.
The overwhelming empirical evidence presented in this report shows choice programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances. Further, the programs produce benefits to society at large and help improve test scores for public school students. Therefore, legislators should create new education choice programs or expand existing ones so that more students have the opportunity to enroll in these valuable programs.
For The Heartland Institute’s Research & Commentary on School Choice.
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