The Market Approach to Education: An Analysis of America's First Voucher Program

by John F. Witte

Book Overview

Milwaukee, one of the nation's most segregated metropolitan areas, implemented in 1990 a school choice program aimed at improving the education of inner-city children by enabling them to attend a selection of private schools. The results of this experiment, however, have been overshadowed by the explosion of emotional debate it provoked nationwide. In this book, John Witte provides a broad yet detailed framework for understanding the Milwaukee...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691089833
• ISBN13: 9780691089836
• Release Date: July 2001
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Evenhanded review

A thorough examination of some of the first experiments in Education Choice. Witte does not shrink from revealing the good and the bad on either side of the arguments and looks honestly at statistics available at the time; this book is becoming a little dated but is still quite useful for analyzing HOW to analyze the effectiveness or detriments of such programs. He is sympathetic yet wary of Choice's value: "Researchers professing [advantageous] results have a major responsibility to outline the causal mechanism by which these miracles are to be accomplished," he declares on page 151. "[...]If it is something they do differently and better, those of us who have devoted many years to studying inner-city education in America would like to know exactly what it is." In short, he zings us with the necessity of looking critically and pragmatically rather than idealistically at Choice.

A Study of Milwaukee Vouchers

Witte's book can be divided into two main areas for critique. The first is the credible presentation of fact-based information. The second and less legitimate section is Witte's advocacy of the voucher program. In its straight-forward, relatively unbiased assessment of the voucher program in Milwaukee, The Market Approach to Education serves as a useful resource to educational study. Witte presents conclusions about the program based on empirical research conducted in the first years of the its existence. Although there are tables and graphs, the information contained within the writing is completely understandable and intersting. In other words, the book is not a trail of numbers even though it presents a substantial amount of factual information. A main source of inconsistency lies in Witte's personal conclusions and serves to discredit his argument. Witte claims to support the limited voucher program on the basis that it has the potential to aid students from disadvantaged areas. However, the evidence Witte presented seemed to suggest that private schools were no more shielded from the problems of education than the public schools, and that private schools yielded no better results than did public schools. Thus, why would he argue in favor of these targeted vouchers if they do not seem to realize their intent? Additionally, Witte states and reiterates that governmentally instituted programs which are initially targeted at a specific group of people, once deemed successful, are expanded to be implemented universally. Witte argues that this universal implementation would destroy the goals of the targeted vouchers: to work toward a more equitable system of education. The universal voucher system, Witte argues, would result in a stratification of education along socio-economic lines, just as all other commodities are economically stratified. Seeing this as contrary to the goal of educational vouchers, why would Witte support the targeted plan? His argument is somewhat schizophrenic. He, in fact, recognizes this, but does not offer any means to qualify his stance. For this reason, Witte's book loses some merit. Where its value lies is the information contained within on the effects of the voucher system and the presentation of the potential outcomes of the program.