Although qualitative research suggests that school choice and other interventions are more beneficial for moderately disadvantaged than severely deprived students, the subject has barely been explored by quantitative studies with either observational or experimental designs. We estimate experimentally the impact of a voucher offer on college…

Estimates of school voucher impacts on educational attainment have yet to explore heterogeneities in socioeconomic status among disadvantaged minority students. We theorize reasons for these heterogeneities and then estimate experimentally the differential impacts of voucher offers on college enrollment and graduation rates for minority and…

For decades, social theorists have posited--and descriptive accounts have shown--that students isolated by both social class and ethnicity suffer extreme deprivations that limit the effectiveness of equal-opportunity interventions. Even educational programs that yield positive results for moderately disadvantaged students may not prove beneficial…

We provide the first experimental estimates of the long-term impacts of a voucher to attend private school by linking data from a privately sponsored voucher initiative in New York City, which awarded the scholarships by lottery to low-income families, to administrative records on college enrollment and degree attainment. We find no significant…

This paper examines the Cleveland Scholarship and Tuition Program (CSTP), a program initiated in 1996 that was the first in the U.S. to offer state-funded scholarships that can be redeemed at both secular and parochial schools. To gather information about the program, a telephone survey of 2,020 CSTP applicants, 1,006 of which did not enroll in…

This paper reports on first-year results for an evaluation of the New York School Choice Scholarships Foundation program, which was designed to provide scholarships for children from low-income families currently attending public schools to transfer to private schools. Families won scholarships through a lottery. Researchers examined data from…

This paper presents first-year results of an evaluation of a Children's Scholarship Fund (CSF) program which provided scholarships enabling low-income families nationwide to send their K-8 children to private schools of their choice. Families won scholarships through a lottery. Telephone surveys of parents/caretakers of children who took advantage…

This report presents an evaluation of the Cleveland Scholarship Program (CSP) after two years in operation. The program provided low-income families with scholarships that they could redeem at any participating Cleveland private school. The evaluation of the program involved a survey of two groups of parents in 1998: parents of children in grades…

The Washington Scholarship Fund Pilot Program (WSF) was established as a privately funded voucher program for low-income families in the District of Columbia. The WSF awarded its scholarships by lottery, making it possible to evaluate it as though it were a randomized experiment. The responses of qualified families with children in public schools…

This report presents third-year findings from an evaluation of the School Choice Scholarships Foundation Program. In 1997, this program provided scholarships via a lottery to low-income, New York City children in grades 1 through 4 that allowed them to transfer to private schools. The evaluation compared scholarship to control students, using test…

In fall 1997, the Washington Scholarship Fund expanded its privately funded school voucher program in Washington, D.C., and in 1998, over 1,000 students were offered scholarships by lottery. This evaluation examined the impact of the first 2 years of the program on students who completed baseline testing and were in grades 1-7 in spring 1998. It…