A Think Twice Review of:

Promising Start: An Empirical Analysis of How EdChoice Vouchers Affect Ohio Public Schools

Think Twice - Sep 08, 2008

Publisher/Think Tank - Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice

Author(s) -

This report makes the claim that Ohio's EdChoice voucher program has increased the effectiveness of public schools. The report indicates that substantial academic gains at public schools have been made because these schools have been exposed to the possibility of losing students to vouchers.

Reviewer(s) - Christopher Lubienski, University of Illinois

Lubienski finds that the report suffers from multiple flaws which undermine the research. Among other things, he indicates that the report makes assumptions not supported by research and "cherry-picks" results to support its claims. Lubienski concludes his review by saying that the Friedman report is better read as a "statement of belief regarding vouchers than an empirical analysis."