Comments on: Get Ready To Rumble? http://www.eduwonk.com/2009/04/get-ready-to-rumble.html Education News, Analysis, and Commentary Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:45:52 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: Matthew Ladner http://www.eduwonk.com/2009/04/get-ready-to-rumble.html/comment-page-1#comment-66943 Matthew Ladner Sun, 05 Apr 2009 00:35:38 +0000 http://www.eduwonk.com/?p=3881#comment-66943 I'm not suprised either, as previous random assignment voucher studies found precisely the same thing: year by year gains that accumulate over time until they reach the level of statistical significance. In the year two evaluation, if you only looked compared kids using vouchers to those who lost the lottery, you already found a significant effect on reading. In the year three evaluation, the kids were scoring high enough to clear the intention to treat bar. The department's press release claimed that there was no impact on math, but it is much more accurate to say that there hasn't been a statistically significant impact on math yet. President Obama told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce: "Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to support with your precious tax dollars: It's not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works." Get ready to rumble indeed. I’m not suprised either, as previous random assignment voucher studies found precisely the same thing: year by year gains that accumulate over time until they reach the level of statistical significance.

In the year two evaluation, if you only looked compared kids using vouchers to those who lost the lottery, you already found a significant effect on reading. In the year three evaluation, the kids were scoring high enough to clear the intention to treat bar.

The department’s press release claimed that there was no impact on math, but it is much more accurate to say that there hasn’t been a statistically significant impact on math yet.

President Obama told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce:

“Secretary Duncan will use only one test when deciding what ideas to
support with your precious tax dollars: It’s not whether an idea is liberal or conservative, but whether it works.”

Get ready to rumble indeed.

]]>