To the Editor:
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel misrepresented a new study about school choice from the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute ("Choice may not improve schools, study says," Oct. 24). The paper's flawed coverage has generated considerable attention in Wisconsin and nationally.
The first half of the lengthy, Page One article, when coupled with the story's headline, left readers with the distinct impression that the study deals with the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. In fact, the institute's study has nothing to do with the country's oldest publicly funded program allowing parents to enroll children in private schools. Nor does the study deal with another major choice program in Milwaukee, one involving independent public charter schools.
Nowhere did the Journal Sentinel article address how a study that excludes major choice programs possibly can reach reliable conclusions about the impact of choice.
The study is a seriously flawed attempt to determine how parents of students in Milwaukee Public Schools select public schools. To illustrate the study's egregious methodology, it relies completely on the assumption that Milwaukee parents make choices the same way parents in other cities do. That is absurd. It is widely known that Milwaukee parents have more publicly supported choices than parents in any American city.
It is not possible to draw meaningful conclusions from the WPRI study. The Journal Sentinel's decision that it merited a Page One article is stunning.
Susan Mithchell
President, School Chocie Wisconsin