Study: Black students with vouchers are 24% more likely to enroll in college

Published Aug 24, 2012 at 10:00 am (Updated Aug 24, 2012)

Black schoolchildren who have participated in New York City's private school voucher program since the late 1990s have been 24% more likely than their non-voucher-receiving peers to enroll in college, according to a new study released by researchers at the Brookings Institution and Harvard University. The research—which focused solely on about 2,600 students who participated in The New York School Choice Scholarships Foundation Program—also shows that black students' enrollment rates in selective colleges more than doubled among voucher students, and the rate of full-time enrollment in colleges increased by 31%. Louisiana has just begun to roll out its new statewide voucher program, and Louisiana Superintendent of Education John White says the study's findings show the state is on the right track in doing so. The Louisiana Scholarship Program has offered scholarships to more than 5,600 students to enroll in one of 119 public and private schools participating in the program. "This study provides empirical evidence for what we've always believed—that parents know better than bureaucracies how to prepare their child for college," White says. "When we let parents decide what's best for their child, we will see rising student achievement and ultimately more college graduates in Louisiana." You can check out the complete findings of the study here.