Sunday, June 28, 2015

School Choice Letter Omits Research, Distorts Polling

 Edd Doerr suggests that this letter was published in Education Week on June 15 might be of interest

School Choice Letter Omits Research, Distorts Polling

Paul DiPerna’s letter touting school vouchers and education savings accounts (“Governor’s School Choice Essay Ignores Research, Critic Says,” May 20, 2015) conveniently did not mention the research and published findings of University of Illinois education professors Christopher and Sarah Lubienski showing that the apparent private school advantage is due to those schools’ selectivity (The Public School Advantage: Why Public Schools Outperform Private Schools, University of Chicago Press, 2013).

Further, the results of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice survey in Delaware that were mentioned in Mr. DiPerna’s letter should be viewed with skepticism as, according to the group Americans for Religious Liberty, they run substantially counter to the results of 40 years of Gallup/Phi Delta Kappa education polls and 28 state referendums over the years, such as those in Hawaii in 2014 and in Florida in 2012.

Dennis Middlebrooks 
Brooklyn, N.Y.

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