More than 1,600 low-income students have enrolled in District private schools using a federally funded voucher program this year, a 60 percent increase over last year.Told 'ya.
This school year was the first that the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program allowed new enrollees since Congress stopped the funds in 2009 amid controversy over whether the program improved educational outcomes for the District's poorest students. Students already receiving vouchers continued in the program.
Before Congress cut off funding, the program had grown from 1,027 participants in fall 2004, its first year, to a peak of 1,930 in the 2007-2008 school year.
Congress renewed the scholarship program for $100 million over five years in April -- giving parents just four months to sign up. Yet 745 of the 1,615 participating students, or 46 percent, are new this year. . .
More than 92 percent of the voucher recipients would otherwise be assigned to schools in need of improvement, corrective action or restructuring, her organization said.
Instead, students received scholarships of up to $12,000 for high school and up to $8,000 for elementary or middle school. The program received $13.7 million in federal funding this year. Fifty-three District private schools are currently involved in the program.
About 98 percent of participating students are black or Hispanic, and 40 percent live in Wards 7 or 8. The average household income of students was $23,401 in 2010. The federal poverty line for a family of four was $41,347.50 last year. . .
D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown testified before the House that he supported the voucher program. "I cannot look a working mother in the eye and tell her that she deserves less choice, not more," he said.
(via reader Ken R.)
2 comments:
Carl---
Hoping it was a better day today--
are you experiencing any noticeable improvement?
re: today's "Told ya" : you're so cute when you're smug.
I have a few questions about the DC voucher program:( & I predicate this by saying I am in favour of almost any program which leads to improved education & learning) What are the statistics on how voucher students are distributed among the 53 DC private schools? Are these voucher students performing significantly better overall than they did in their previous schools? Or are they, in some instances, struggling?
( academically & /or socially) And , if so, at particular schools?
Are any private schools reporting difficulties with voucher students?
PS. Kwame Brown could stand to go back to school: it should be "I cannot...tell her that she deserves FEWER CHOICES, not more."
Carl said...
"You can imagine how silly I felt after some St. Martin-in-the-Fields docent explained that the Church and the Academy were unrelated. I was about 14 years old at the time. "
I figured you must have been fairly young when you went to the church; I hope the docent was kindly and didn’t laugh at you.
"I'm not a huge fan of the Lessons from PISA report, but will have to amplify when I have more time (and feel better)."
I read this today----can’t say as I was completely captivated.
I look forward to your amplification . More of my ed thoughts later, too. I've got an ed idea going...
On a musical note: downloaded Mozart’s “Coronation Mass” with Barbara Bonney.
Absolutely gives me the chills!
Steve Sailer has some analysis of PISA.
I tend toward the opinion that schools can seldom help much, but they can harm.
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