Milwaukee Voucher Program Raises Graduation Rates

A new study from School Choice Wisconsin finds that students receiving a scholarship through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) were 18% more likely to graduate than Milwaukee Public School (MPS) students.

Based on six years of data, John Robert Warren, Ph.D., a recognized academic expert on calculating high school graduation rates, shows that low-income students in the Milwaukee school choice program were 18% more likely to graduate than students from across the economic spectrum in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

This despite the fact that the MPCP scholarships are limited to a maximum amount only 46% what the MPS spends per pupil.

And for those critics who might use the 20-year-old talking points of the public school employees’ unions that vouchers lead to “creaming”: MPCP students represent, on average, lower-income families, a similar percentage of African-American and Hispanic student, only slightly higher levels of parental education, and lower average test scores upon entry than Milwaukee Public Schools students.