ABSTRACT
School vouchers are among the various "school choice" options available to families, some of whom do not want to send their children to traditional public schools. Other school choice programs include charter schools and virtual schools. Research on the academic impact of vouchers—often determined using test scores or high school graduation rates—is decidedly mixed; there is no scholarly consensus that they boost student achievement, though many researchers encourage further study and increased emphasis on how voucher programs are designed. The first modern voucher program started in 1990, when Wisconsin targeted students from low-income families in Milwaukee. By contrast, in Louisiana, Atila Abdulkadiroglu of Duke University and colleagues found that a voucher program there hurt its intended beneficiaries—poor students who are mostly black. Race is an issue either directly addressed or intimated in much research on school vouchers. New York School Choice Scholarships Foundation program focuses on elementary-school children from low-income families in New York City.
