Graduation Year
2025
Date of Submission
4-2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Government
Reader 1
Andrew Sinclair
Terms of Use & License Information
Abstract
This thesis examines the competitive effects of Arizona’s targeted Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program, which operated from 2012 to 2022, on public school performance. Under this program, students attending D-rated or F-rated schools were made eligible for school vouchers. I analyze both short-term (2015) and longer-term (2019) impacts. Using a sharp regression discontinuity design centered on the threshold between C- and D-rated schools under Arizona’s A–F school rating system, I estimate the effect of voucher eligibility on standardized test outcomes in English Language Arts and Math, as measured by the AzMERIT assessment. The results show that voucher eligibility led to statistically significant and sustained improvements in Math proficiency rates, with more modest gains in English. Effects were strongest in 2019, suggesting that accountability-linked voucher programs may produce cumulative positive effects over time. These findings contribute to the broader debate over school voucher policy by providing evidence that small, targeted, and accountability-driven voucher initiatives can produce sustained, positive competitive effects in public schools. This study underscores the importance of program design in shaping voucher policy outcomes, particularly for students who remain in public schools.
Recommended Citation
Walker, David, "Competitive Effects of Targeted School Vouchers: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Study of Arizona’s ESA Program" (2025). CMC Senior Theses. 3939.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/3939
