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Better district schools lose students to vouchers

by Caitlin Scott

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The Cleveland public schools that lose the most students to vouchers are likely to be among those with better test scores and more highly regarded programs, a CATALYST analysis shows.

Specifically, these schools are more likely to:

Have test scores above the district average and in some cases the state average;

Be magnet schools with specialized programming; 

Be rated as one of the district’s “empowered” schools based on higher academic achievement. 

Over the last five years, 10 Cleveland public schools have each lost 17 or more students to vouchers, according to an analysis by Policy Matters Ohio, a non-profit policy research organization. The CATALYST findings apply to these 10 schools.

Beginning in 1996, the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program offered a limited number of 1st- through 3rd-grade students vouchers worth up to $2,250 to attend private schools in Cleveland. Once enrolled in the program, students can continue receiving vouchers through 8th grade. The program has 4,000 students, compared with 77,000 in the Cleveland public schools.

Based on her studies of school choice programs nationally, Harvard economics professor Caroline Hoxby says when voucher programs are limited, parents who use vouchers are often highly motivated and have previously enrolled their child in a quality schools. “The same sort of parent who works hard to get into a magnet school will work hard to get vouchers,” she reasons. 

Peter Robertson, director of the district’s Office of Research Evaluation and Assessment, questions whether students reported as leaving Cleveland actually ever attended the public schools for any length of time. Many may have left for religious reasons rather than dissatisfaction with their child’s school, he says.

In most cases, the 10 schools were unaware that students were leaving to attend voucher schools.

Higher test scores
The CATALYST analysis showed that schools losing to vouchers have higher average student passage rates on the 4th-grade Ohio Proficiency Test (OPT) than the district as a whole. The pass rates for the district are 34 percent on the reading and math sections, and 16 percent on all five sections. For the 10 schools losing the most students to vouchers, the average passage rates are 43 percent for reading, 46 percent for math and 24 percent for all five parts of the test. The state’s required passage rate is 75 percent.

Three of the 10 schools—Newton D. Baker and Riverside, both on the west side, and Emile B. De Sauze on the east side—beat the state average of 31 percent of students passing all five parts of the test. 

Riverside Principal Philip Pempin says he was surprised to learn that 17 students left his school to use vouchers over the past five years. He questions whether they were dissatisfied with Riverside or were responding to other influences on the family. “I have never had a parent come to me and say we’re taking our child out for vouchers,” Pempin notes.

Magnet schools
Magnet schools, the public system’s choice schools, also lose more students to vouchers. Magnet schools make up less than a fifth of the district’s elementary schools but almost half of schools losing the most students to vouchers. 

Magnet school officials are not particularly aware of or concerned by students leaving for vouchers. At arts magnet Newton D. Baker “there is always a waiting list,” says Robin Stone, the school family liaison. Losing 20 students over five years would just make room for parents eager to sign up, she says.

Principal Faye Appling at H. Barbara Booker on the west side points out that many private schools as well as voucher schools recruit her students. “I’m glad, frankly, that my school is in the situation that people want my students,” she says.

Booker lost 23 students to vouchers over the past five years. Given that some of her students win scholarships to prestigious independent schools and some move away from Cleveland, voucher students would account for only about 1 percent of enrollment each year. “Twenty three students is not a lot,” Appling says.

Empowered schools
The district designates schools as “Empowered” based on high test scores and overall excellence. Principals and staff in these schools are allowed more autonomy in hiring and budgeting matters than in other district schools. Empowered schools make up about one third of district schools but almost two thirds of schools losing the most students to vouchers.

In contrast, lower-performing schools are not as likely to lose students to vouchers, the analysis showed. Dubbed “CEO schools” by district chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett, they receive extra attention aimed at improving academic achievement. Seven elementary schools have been identified as CEO schools.

According to the Policy Matters Ohio study, none of the 10 schools losing the most students to vouchers were CEO schools.