We Invented the Double Standard

Yesterday, Eduwonk linked to a Palm Beach Post story that reported that 10 of the 34 schools that accept Florida's Opportunity Scholarship vouchers are (God forbid) Not Accredited.

However, the Opportunity Scholarship private schools actually have a higher accreditation rate than Florida's public schools. Three important facts that were missing from the Palm Beach Post story were reported in an Associated Press story in today's St. Petersburg Times:


1.Of 3,757 public schools in Florida, 1,500, or 40 percent, have some sort of accreditation.

2.While 10 of the voucher schools weren't accredited, the Post story was misleading because 84 percent of opportunity scholarship students were in accredited private schools.

3.Some of the unaccredited schools are currently participating in an accreditation process.

An interesting study would examine how Florida’s accredited public schools have performed on the FCAT in comparison to the unaccredited schools. If accreditation is meaningful, it should lead to higher student performance in accredited schools.