Decades of studies paint complex portrait of vouchers' value

The debate over the value of voucher programs and other initiatives that direct public funds to private schools has been waging for some time, and while some early studies seemed to support the impact of voucher programs on student achievement, more recent research is offering different conclusions, Chalkbeat reports.Many recent studies suggest voucher programs have a negative effect on student test scores, especially in math, but have neutral or positive impacts on student outcome metrics like graduation rates or college attendance. Moreover, parents generally are more satisfied with private schools, studies show.Voucher programs targeted at low-income students are not likely to increase segregation, though critics fear a larger-scale program might. And despite the debate over the impact of vouchers on students who gain them, there is significant evidence that test scores at public schools improve because of the competition. While the voucher concept has, in a sense, long been a feature of higher education, the K-12 school voucher debate has been going on for more than two decades now and shows little sign of stopping. States handle the idea in various ways, with some using vouchers, others using tax credit tuition programs, and some using neither. However, while the notion that school choice should be available in some form is growing in acceptance and seems to be increasing public school performance because of the forced competition, uneasiness with the idea remains on both the public and private sides of the equation.