The American Federation of Teachers freaked out last week at the good news that low-income children in New York City who attend private schools under a scholarship program have improved their performance and outpaced their public-school peers in reading and math. "Although voucher advocate Paul Peterson claims that he's offering evidence that vouchers work," the union whined, "what he really seems to have discovered is that small class size works. . . . President Clinton did the right thing in making smaller classes for public school students the centerpiece of his education program. Now we need to get to work making smaller classes a reality, especially for our poorest children."
Nice try at changing the subject. But Peterson, a Harvard professor who says vouchers are promising but need more research, was no hired gun. He collaborated with Mathematica Policy Research, a nonpartisan organization that also does research for the Department of Education. "We implemented the study and collected and analyzed the data," says project director David Myers. "We have no ax to grind." Peterson also found that the scholarship kids do not get all the breaks. They succeeded in spite of the fact that the private schools they attend are less likely to offer facilities like a library, cafeteria, nurse's office, counselors, and special programs for non-English speakers or students with learning disabilities. And class sizes are a red herring with no clear correlation with achievement.
Parental choice, small surprise, can improve student achievement. The writing's on the wall, but maybe the unions are having a hard time reading it.