Trump and DeVos Opt for Photo Over Real Progress for Students
May 3, 2017
Following President Trump and Secretary Betsy DeVos’ visit with local students, DNC spokesman Daniel Wessel released the following statement:
“Coming off the heels of their meaningless executive order last week, Trump and DeVos today took time out for a photo op with DC students to distract from their administration's real record with students: gutting the healthy lunch program, undoing student loan protections, and proposing cuts to after-school programs.”
All this comes on the heels of yet another study demonstrating declining student achievement among voucher recipients:
Washington Post: Nation’s only federally funded voucher program has negative effect on student achievement, study finds
Students in the nation’s only federally funded school voucher initiative performed worse on standardized tests within a year after entering D.C. private schools than peers who did not participate, according to a new federal analysis that comes as President Trump is seeking to pour billions of dollars into expanding the private school scholarships nationwide. […]
Martin West, a professor of education at Harvard, said the D.C. study adds to an emerging pattern of research showing declines in student achievement among voucher recipients, a departure from an earlier wave of research — often on smaller, privately funded scholarship programs — that skewed more positive.