Voucher Program Schools (Still) Have Higher Test Scores Than Public Schools

170 non-public schools have signed up for Indiana’s new private and parochial school voucher program since standardized test scores were released in mid-July. But even as the pool of voucher schools has grown, state data show there hasn’t been a regression to the mean in the average voucher school ISTEP+ passage rate.

Translation: Test scores at voucher schools are still higher than at public schools.

On July 12, when 2011 ISTEP+ scores were released, we reported that the 80 schools enrolled at that time in Indiana’s Choice Scholarship program had an average state test passage rate of 84.7 percent.

As of August 18, with 250 schools enrolled, the average state ISTEP+ passage rate in the voucher program ticked down only slightly to 83.6 percent.

In public schools, the passage rate on both the math and reading portions of the test is 70.1 percent (again, as we reported in July).

That’s no small thing. In Milwaukee, the state auditor released a report saying test scores were no better at schools in the city-wide voucher program than they were in the public schools.