Patrick Graff

One of the most common questions I get when describing school choice is "I support parents having a choice, but what about the public schools?" Excited to share a new study out today that examines these (potentially) competing policy alternatives directly: Does funding school choice harm public schools by taking away needed funding? Or Does funding school choice create competitive accountability which also benefits public school students? I've been thinking through this work for the last few years and am grateful to @EducationNext for publishing my piece based on the study. Here's what I found:

I put their findings head-to-head in the context of Florida, which has the largest and most prominent school choice ecosystem. My calculations and assumptions are all documented and transparent - would encourage you to give it a read @helenrey

This is a fair point! Skepticism warranted. However, I want to emphasize - I did not do any new basic research. This study is a synthesis of the highest quality work in competitive effects and school spending, all done by highly-respected university based researchers

@biggieschools @GinnyGentles Love to hear it - they are playing an increasingly impactful role Here’s the full study: federationforchildren.org/florida-school…

@parthurgraff @GinnyGentles The Florida data is compelling - showing that choice programs can benefit public school students too is a game-changer for policy debates. Would love to see the full study! @biggieschools is tracking how microschools fit into this landscape.

Great conversation with @GinnyGentles about school choice competition and school spending - worth a listen! Thank you for having me on to talk about my 3rd grade teaching days in Tampa and my new research synthesis on Florida’s school choice experiment

Full video here: youtu.be/ANBBjI4qj20?si…

@vkoganpolisci @Ed_Realist @FlowTap1 @shakamitchell @flowidealism @MQ_McShane @MichaelPetrilli @mlueken2 @afcpress There is a category of poster that is attracted to social media because they enjoy being grumpy online - definitely seems to fit this one well 😅 I’m a little disappointed though - I want the critique!

@parthurgraff @Ed_Realist @FlowTap1 @shakamitchell @flowidealism @MQ_McShane @MichaelPetrilli @mlueken2 @afcpress I have generally not found it helpful to engage this anonymous Freddie deBoer alter ego. Does not really approach anything in good faith or with open mind.

Harsh words for Professors David Figlio and Kirabo Jackson on their school choice competition and school spending research!😅 I expected this reaction among school choice opponents (I can guarantee @Ed_Realist hasn't read it yet) The case is much stronger than they assume

@Ed_Realist @FlowTap1 @shakamitchell @vkoganpolisci @flowidealism @MQ_McShane @MichaelPetrilli @mlueken2 @afcpress Original post:

@Ed_Realist @FlowTap1 @shakamitchell @vkoganpolisci @flowidealism @MQ_McShane @MichaelPetrilli @mlueken2 @afcpress Update - he was not interested in backing up his critique 😂

This is the key insight from the study - scaling school choice in Florida had outsized benefits for public school students at a fraction of the cost. It's not a huge effect, but is certainly policy relevant! The narrative is that these policy options are rivalrous - they weren't in Florida

@3RenChengHu @Ed_Realist This is correct Moderate effect for a low per-pupil cost at a statewide scale, which is notable for an education intervention

The claim is driven by low cost rather than large effect size. Specifically, it's that for $127/student, they claim to get the same increase in performance as would be expected from increasing school spending by $1,423/student, so it's mainly just exploiting the fact that increased spending doesn't increase test scores very much.

This finding is such bullshit.

@Ed_Realist Thank you for your kind words 😅 Have you read the study?? What errors did you notice?

@JonBaronforMD Excellent thread - so badly needed to understand the effects of these programs. Many districts are sold on results based on near-perfect implementation with non-random samples. Appreciate your team’s good work here!

New: Our No-Spin report on an RCT of Hoot high-impact tutoring for struggling readers in grade 1-4. Despite the study abstract’s unambiguously positive portrayal of the results, this high-quality RCT found no discernible effect on its primary outcome: end-of-yr reading scores.🧵

@Dale_Chu @fresnounified @K12DiveNews I would be very curious to see these contracts. I wonder if they would restrict it to only those students who meet usage requirements... (seems likely)

With all the Twitter buzz around i‑Ready, I’m curious: what does @fresnounified’s outcomes‑based contract look like? How do they tie pay to results?