Many on Ohio scholarships fail

Many private-school pupils failed state achievement tests last May.

CINCINNATI (AP) — An analysis of test scores shows that many pupils attending private schools on taxpayer-funded scholarships fail Ohio’s standardized tests without facing the same consequences as their public school peers.

The analysis published Saturday by The Cincinnati Enquirer found that many pupils in the Educational Choice Scholarship program who took state achievement tests last May failed those tests.

The Enquirer obtained the scores of about 2,900 pupils through public records requests.

Of those pupils, at least six in 10 failed in math, science or social studies. Four in 10 failed in reading, and three in 10 failed in writing.

State officials did not disclose their home districts, which schools the pupils attended or what grade level they had reached.

Ohio Department of Education spokesman Scott Blake said releasing that information could compromise pupil privacy.

The scholarship program, known as Ed Choice, pays for about 10,000 pupils to attend private schools instead of going to the lowest-rated public districts in the state. The state pays up to $4,500 for each elementary pupil and up to $5,300 per high school student using Ed Choice vouchers.

Unlike their private-school classmates, those pupils must take the same standardized tests as public school pupils.

But officials don’t track whether they pass them, Blake said. Most public school pupils must pass the five-part series known as the Ohio Graduation Tests to receive a diploma, and their achievement levels are tracked by the state.

Advocates for more open government argue that such data could be used to improve the accountability of such a taxpayer-funded program and to evaluate its success.

“If we have these programs that are publicly funded and are being touted as a way to give kids an opportunity, I think it’s important to see how these kids are doing,” said Piet van Lier, senior researcher at the liberal Cleveland think tank Policy Matters Ohio. “Is it giving us a bang for our buck for taxpayer dollars?”

Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland, said the governor is interested in ensuring accountability while still honoring pupils’ privacy.

Blake, the education department spokesman, said the program’s success should not be measured by test scores, but by whether it gives parents more choices for education.

He also questioned how a private school’s effect on a pupil’s test scores could be evaluated if a pupil has attended only for a short time.

“It’s not something that happens overnight,” he said.

However, the state’s evaluations of public schools include information on first-year transfer pupils.