The IES impact evaluation of the 3rd year of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was quietly released today.
A Friday.
And Congress is on a two-week holiday.
Think it made a big splash?
Hiding in the bland research language are some nice findings:
- Opportunity Scholars are outpacing their former public school classmates on reading tests by a gap of more than 3 months of learning time. While their math scores are not rising at a similar rate, they average the same or slightly better than their counterparts.
- As in previous impact studies, families report that participating in the program has had a positive impact on their students, stressing safety as a primary area of satisfaction.
Bottom line (yet again): kids are learning, achieving, and thriving in safer school environments – all for a laughably smaller amount than it would cost to educate them in D.C.’s public school system.
The report will be required weekend reading for many and a more detailed analysis will come to light.
While it’s nice that Congress will have this data when re-authorization hearings convene, it would have been nicer if they had actually been around to receive the report.
