Washington Scholarship Fund

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 20, 2007
CONTACT: Byron Davis
(202) 222-0535

Latest Report from Georgetown University Shows Strong Support for D.C. Scholarship Program

Families are more involved in their children’s education and see dramatic student improvement

A new study released today by Georgetown University shows overwhelming parental satisfaction with the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (the D.C. OSP) and parents’ increased focus on and pride in their children’s academic development. The scholarship families – who are all low-income and have become informed and savvy “consumers” of educational options – report that their children are thriving academically and socially in the schools of their choice.

Among the study’s major findings is that, with their children now in well-suited and safer schools, parents’ focus has shifted from concerns about safety to monitoring their children’s academic progress. In efforts to evaluate the D.C. OSP’s impact on their own children, parents are looking for noticeable changes in students’ attitudes and motivations, and these positive changes are undeniably apparent.

The report also indicates that through the opportunities afforded to them by the D.C. OSP, parents have progressed from playing a relatively passive role to being even more active in their children’s academic experiences. Some parents report they are looking for their D.C. OSP scholars to “break the cycle of low expectations” so many parents have faced themselves.

The D.C. OSP was established in 2004 along with critical federal investments in the District’s public and charter schools. Since then, the program has supported over 1,900 low-income students by allowing their families to send their children to the schools that are best for them.

“This study shows how successful the D.C. OSP has been in giving the City’s children an opportunity to succeed, and this comes from the folks who would know best: the parents themselves,” said Joseph E. Robert, Jr., Chairman of the Board at the Washington Scholarship Fund, which administers the watershed program. “Given the chance to make educational choices for their children, parents are more engaged and their children are learning in well-matched schools of their choice. This is what the program is all about,” he said.

The new report is the third in an ongoing study by Georgetown University’s School Choice Demonstration Project, which uses focus groups with scholarship families – all with incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty level in 2006, or $38,203 for a family of four – to learn about their experiences in the program. The report not only cites strong satisfaction with the program in general, but with the Washington Scholarship Fund specifically. Parents state that WSF staff members are their most “prized resource” in choosing a school that is best for their children.

“We’re so gratified that families are satisfied with and benefiting from the work we’re doing,” said Gregory M. Cork, President and CEO of the Washington Scholarship Fund. “Even with the phenomenal success of the D.C. OSP to date, we’re always looking at ways to improve the program and expand support to our students and families – who are our single focus.”

According to the Georgetown study, nearly all of the concerns expressed by D.C. OSP parents focus on factors which do, or may eventually, limit their children’s ability to continue to use their scholarships. Parents are well aware that an increase in the supply of high school seats in District non-public schools is imperative if their children are to continue in the program after eighth grade (a concern of course shared by WSF). Scholarship families also are fully aware that unless Congress reauthorizes the program beyond 2008, they will lose their scholarships. Established as a five-year pilot program, the D.C. OSP is currently in its fourth year.

“We hope that policy-makers would see the value in a program like this as a key part of serving all children in our Nation’s Capital,” said Cork. “Parents want the D.C. OSP to remain available so that they can continue to add to the growth they’ve already seen in their children – who deserve nothing less than the finest education available to them.”

The D.C. OSP provides eligible low-income children with up to $7,500 per year to pay for tuition, school fees, and transportation expenses at participating non-public schools in the District. To be eligible to enter the program, a student must live in D.C. and have a household income of no more than 185% of the federal poverty line. The U.S. Department of Education, in partnership with the D.C. Mayor’s Office, awarded WSF the grant to operate the program in March of 2004.

For the current 2007-2008 school year, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program enrolled a record number of students at non-public schools for the fourth straight year – 1,903 students enrolled at 54 participating non-public D.C. schools. This represents a 5.5 percent increase over the number of scholarship students who enrolled at participating schools through the program at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.

For the D.C. OSP’s first four academic years, WSF received four applications for each available scholarship. If the D.C. OSP didn’t exist, 83 percent of the students currently enrolled at participating schools through the program would be attending public schools that did not meet “adequate yearly progress” standards in 2006-2007, as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The federal legislation that created the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program gives priority to students from underperforming schools.

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