Education Reform Researchers Continuing to Inform Education Policy in Arkansas

Three researchers in the College of Education and Health Professions' Department of Education Reform will conduct an evaluation of the Education Freedom Accounts program established by the Arkansas LEARNS Act.

The three-year study will assess the effects of the Education Freedom Accounts program on student academic outcomes, along with parent satisfaction with their child's education provider.

Principal investigator Patrick Wolf will lead the first-of-its-kind assessment along with co-investigators Harry Patrinos and Josh McGee.

"I'm excited to lead a terrific research team in the first evaluation of a universal school choice program in the U.S., and it's right here in Arkansas!" Wolf said. "We will learn a lot about what happens to students, families, schools and communities when a state offers all K-12 students financial support to attend a private school of their choice or a homeschool."

Wolf, Patrinos and McGee will identify students who transfer into the Education Freedom Accounts program in grades 3-10 and match them with public school students who share similar characteristics. The researchers will then track the academic outcomes of both groups over three years to evaluate the program's impact.

To facilitate the study, researchers established a partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education Office of School Choice and Parental Empowerment, which will provide all the necessary data to conduct the evaluation.

"This evaluation offers a unique opportunity to assess Arkansas' approach to educational development while showcasing the Department of Education Reform's leadership in generating evidence to inform education policy," Patrinos said.

A total of 10 reports will be produced throughout the study, revealing important information about the program, including the characteristics of its participants, its impacts on student achievement, its fiscal effects on public school districts and the state, and more.

One major motivation for Wolf and his team is to fill an information gap about the effects of school choice programs, benefiting parents, educators, policymakers, and fellow education scholars in Arkansas and across the country.

The study is supported by the Walton Family Foundation and will also enlist the help of the Department of Education Reform's Office for Education Policy. Led by Executive Director Sarah McKenzie, the Office for Education Policy will help clean and anonymize data sent from the Arkansas Department of Education before passing it off to the research team for analysis.

Wolf, Distinguished Professor of Education Policy and Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in School Choice, is one of the top 25 education scholars in the nation, according to Education Week. His research focuses on school choice, including voucher programs, and has been supported by nearly 50 external grants and contracts totaling almost $24 million.

Patrinos, Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy, is an internationally recognized expert in K-12 education policy and has three decades of leadership experience across various fields. He joined the college as head of the Department of Education Reform following a successful career at the World Bank, where he served as a senior advisor for education.

McGee, Twenty-First Century Endowed Chair in Education Transparency and Accountability, is an economist and faculty affiliate of the Office for Education Policy, where much of his research focuses on improving education in Arkansas. He previously served as the State of Arkansas' chief data officer and brings extensive experience in leadership roles in education, government, nonprofits and philanthropy.

The team hopes this study can serve as a model for future researchers in other states on how to evaluate similar educational savings account or voucher programs.