The drive to improve our nation’s schools is not a zero-sum game, and a report launched today on Educationnext.org shows how alternative learning options for poor and struggling schoolchildren can have a positive impact on traditional neighborhood schools.Northwestern University researchers David Figlio and Cassandra Hart explain that a tax credit scholarship for low-income students in Florida boosted the academic performance of the public schools faced with the threat of losing students to the scholarship program (Disclosure: the editors of redefinED also direct policy and public affairs initiatives for the nonprofit group that administers the program). While Figlio and Hart acknowledge the difficulty in studying the competitive effects of private schools on public school performance, they sliced the data in multiple ways (looking at the number and diversity of surrounding private schools, for instance) and found that the competitive pressure of the program led to “general improvements” in test scores among the students who remained in public schools.
