EMBARGOED UNTIL AUGUST 18, 2009 at 12:01 AM
Do special-education
vouchers change the likelihood that a student is diagnosed as
disabled?
STUDY REVEALS IMPACT OF VOUCHERS
ON SPECIAL- EDUCATION GROWTH
New
York, NY: On Tuesday, August 18th, Manhattan Institute senior
fellows Marcus A. Winters and Jay P. Greene released a new study,
"How
Special Ed Vouchers Keep Kids From Being Mislabeled as Disabled."
The authors examine the implementation of a special-education
voucher program to determine whether it reduces the likelihood
that a student will be diagnosed as disabled.
The authors evaluate Florida's McKay voucher program, the first
and largest voucher program for disabled students in the nation.
Similar programs are currently operating in Ohio, Georgia, and
Utah. This study is the first empirical evaluation to examine
vouchers' effect on disability classifications.
Highlights of the study include:
The authors conclude special-education vouchers limit the number
of misdiagnoses of struggling students and thus constrain the
costly artificial increase in special-education enrollments.
The study can be accessed online at
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_58.htm.
If you would like to schedule an interview with one of the authors,
please contact Kasia Zabawa at (646) 839-3342 or by email at kzabawa@manhattan-institute.org.
ABOUT AUTHORS
Marcus A. Winters is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan
Institute. He has performed several studies on a variety of education
policy issues, including high-stakes testing, charter schools,
and the effects of vouchers on the public school system. He received
his B.A. in political science with departmental honors from Ohio
University and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Arkansas.
Jay P. Greene, Ph.D., is Endowed Chair and Head of the
Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and
a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is the author of,
Education Myths, which received wide acclaim. His education research
has been cited in U.S. Supreme Court opinions and has appeared
in scholarly and popular publications. Dr. Greene obtained his
doctorate in political science from Harvard University in 1995.
The Manhattan Institute, a 501(c)(3), is a
think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas
that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
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