Trump and DeVos Opt for Photo Over Real Progress for Students

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.