Erickson, Heidi H.; Mills, Jonathan N.; Wolf, Patrick J. (2021). Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, v14 n4 p861-899. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1314473
Reviewed: December 2021
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
College Enrollment |
Louisiana Scholarship Program vs. Business as usual |
5 Years |
College entrance sample (students in grades 7-12);
|
34.90 |
31.70 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
College Enrollment - 2 Year Institution |
Louisiana Scholarship Program vs. Business as usual |
5 Years |
College entrance sample (students in grades 7-12);
|
21.10 |
17.80 |
No |
-- | ||
|
College Enrollment - 4 Year Institution |
Louisiana Scholarship Program vs. Business as usual |
5 Years |
College entrance sample (students in grades 7-12);
|
13.70 |
13.90 |
No |
-- | ||
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
| Black | 90% | |
| Other or unknown | 5% | |
| White | 5% |
| Hispanic | 2% | |
| Not Hispanic or Latino | 98% |
This study is an evaluation of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP), which offered publicly funded school vouchers to students from low-income families who attend poor performing public schools in Louisiana. The vouchers provide tuition funding to allow students to attend one of a set of participating private schools in the state. LSP began as a pilot program in New Orleans in 2008, expanding to a statewide initiative in 2012. The program was available to students who have family incomes at or below 250% of the federal poverty line and who attended a public school that received a grade of C or lower in the Louisiana accountability system. Those who met the income criteria and attended school in the state's Recovery School District are also eligible, as were those students who met the income criteria and entered kindergarten during the study period.
Students included in the analysis for academic achievement were enrolled in grades one through five when they applied for the LSP, while those in the college enrollment group were in grades seven through twelve. The majority (90%) of the sample was African American, with a near even split between males (48%) and females (52%). Because of the requirements of the program, all students had family incomes at or below 250% of the federal poverty line.
The intervention examined is the Louisiana Scholarship Program (LSP), which provides publicly funded vouchers to low- and moderate-income students attending low-performing public schools. The vouchers allow students to enroll in participating private schools and provide funds to do so, with funding level defined as either the total amount of the student's state and local funding at their public school or the tuition charged by the private school attended by the voucher recipient.
Students in the comparison group were comprised of students who did not receive a scholarship to their first choice school in LSP. They may have attended a private school that was not their first choice using the LSP scholarship or attended a public school.
No information was provided about implementation support.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).
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