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learning has been a hot subject in the literature. In Colombia, vouchers were
given randomly to low-income students in order to attend private secondary
schools. Angrist et al. (2002) found positive effects of private school enrollment
on grade progression and test scores. Similarly, in India, vouchers given
randomly to public school students in order to attend private schools raised test
scores in a cost-effective way (Muralidharan and Sundararaman, 2015).
Evidence from PISA and other studies shows that students in private
schools exhibit higher learning outcomes than students in public schools. In 16
OECD countries and 10 partner countries, private school students outperforms
their public school counterparts by 30 points in reading scores. Much of this
difference remains after adjusting for socioeconomic background. OECD
concludes that private schools benefit the individual students who attend them,
although not raising the level of performance of the school system, as a whole
OECD (2011c).
School choice and vouchers are an anathema in most country institutional-
political settings –. Yet several studies have shown that when there is school
choice, as in the Netherlands, students are doing better (Dronkers, 2003).
Several studies have found achievement advantages of private schools
(Rouse, 1998; Hoxby, 1998; Green et al., 1999). Neal (1997) finds that urban
minorities gain the most, having a 26 percentage points increased probability
graduating from high school graduation. Hoxby (2001) reports that competition
between public schools raises student achievement at a reduced cost.
Belfield and Levin (2002) reviewed over 41 empirical studies in the US,
on the effects of competition on educational outcomes, such as test scores,
graduation rates, wages and teacher quality. Most studies found that increased
competition improves outcomes and has the strongest effects for low-income
students. Increased competition raises school quality, effectiveness and