Students in Greatest Need Still Left Lagging.

• Position: PRIVATE SCHOOL VOUCHERS

For moderately disadvantaged students, using a voucher to attend a private school increases college-enrollment rates and four-year degree attainment, but vouchers have no significant effect on college-going or degree attainment for the most severely disadvantaged students, maintains an article in Education Next coauthored by Harvard University's Paul E. Peterson and Albert Cheng of the University of Arkansas.

Peterson (professor of government and senior editor of Education Next) and Cheng (assistant professor in the Department of Education Reform) analyzed data from school choice programs that award vouchers by lottery. They compared college enrollment and degree attainment between disadvantaged African-American and Hispanic-American students who were offered a voucher and those who were not. Informed by research on first-generation college students, they distinguish between "moderate" and "severe" disadvantage by family income and based on whether a minority student's mother has any education beyond high school.

The offer of a half-tuition voucher to attend private elementary...