Impacts of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program After Three Years

A new report finds that the nation’s only federally-funded private school voucher program had no effect on achievement after three years. However, the program positively affected student satisfaction with their schools and perceptions of school safety.

The Institute of Education Sciences released a report today (May 15) entitled Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years. This final report from the National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE) assesses the program’s effects on test scores and other outcomes measured three years after about 1,800 eligible applicants entered lotteries in 2012, 2013, and 2014 to determine who would receive a private school scholarship. The report examines both the effects of being offered a scholarship – whether or not it was used -- and the effects of using a scholarship.

Key findings include:

• Three years after students applied, the OSP had no effect on student achievement. In the first two years after applying to the OSP, students offered and students using scholarships performed worse in math than those not offered scholarships. Between years two and three, growth in math scores slowed for students not offered scholarships and increased for those offered and using scholarships. As a result, the groups performed similarly by year three.

• After three years, the OSP improved student—but not parent—satisfaction with schools and perceptions of school safety. Students offered and students using scholarships were more likely to give their school a grade of A or B and to report that their school was “very safe” three years after they applied to the program. However, parents of students offered or using scholarships reported similar school satisfaction and perceptions of school safety as parents of students not offered scholarships.

Questions about the longer term effects of the OSP on academic outcomes will remain unanswered, as Congress mandated that the current evaluation conclude. However, a future evaluation will assess whether participation in the OSP affects college enrollment and completion.