School Voucher Research and the Conservatives Who Abuse It

Media Matters calls out conservative columnist, John Tierney, for making up his own findings for some earlier voucher research:

Tierney misrepresented study on Milwaukee school vouchers

Summary: New York Times columnist John Tierney misrepresented the findings of a study of school vouchers in Milwaukee, claiming that it showed "that as the voucher program expanded in Milwaukee, there was a marked improvement in test scores at the public schools most threatened by the program." In fact, the study questioned whether the Milwaukee voucher program actually had an effect on public schools.

New York Times columnist John Tierney, in his March 7 column (subscription required), misrepresented the findings of a study conducted by Harvard researcher Rajashri Chakrabarti on school vouchers in Milwaukee, claiming that Chakrabarti's study showed "that as the voucher program expanded in Milwaukee, there was a marked improvement in test scores at the public schools most threatened by the program." In fact, Chakrabarti's 2005 study, which compared school voucher programs in Milwaukee and Florida, questioned whether the Milwaukee voucher program actually had an effect on public schools. . . .