In this report, authors outline the data available to study the academic performance of students who make use of kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) Education Savings Accounts—government-funded accounts typically established for parents who opt not to enroll their children in public K–12 schools. These programs have become increasingly popular since 2020 as a way to broaden educational choice for families, but they are yet to be rigorously evaluated.

The Path Toward Evaluating the Impacts of Education Savings Accounts on Academic Achievement Outcomes

Susha Roy, Heather L. Schwartz, Alexis Gable

ResearchPublished Dec 19, 2024

Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are government-funded accounts typically established for parents who opt not to enroll their children in public kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) schools. ESAs allow parents to spend funds that the state would have spent for their student to attend their local public school on a broad array of educational expenses, such as private school tuition, curriculum materials, textbooks, tutoring services, technology (e.g., laptops or tablet devices), transportation costs, and school supplies. They give parents an unprecedented amount of flexibility to determine how public funds are used to educate their children. As of July 2024, 18 states have ESA programs, up from four states in 2019.

Despite their rapid expansion, there is no empirical research on the effectiveness of ESAs. In this report, the authors describe what existing data can answer about ESAs and what is needed to enable rigorous evaluation of these increasingly popular school choice policies. No state has the necessary program characteristics and data infrastructure to measure the impact of ESA participation on academic outcomes. The authors suggest several recommendations should states want to pursue evaluation in the future.

Key Findings

  • As of 2024, 18 states have K–12 ESA policies, up from four states in 2019. Fifteen of the 18 states collect academic achievement data of some sort on ESA students.
  • Twelve of the 18 states require ESA students to take a nationally norm-referenced test. Researchers could use these data to track growth in ESA students' achievement over time and compare ESA students with same-grade non-ESA students nationwide in some cases, if states build systems to compile the data and are willing to share them.
  • No state currently has each of the four criteria we identify as necessary for causal research: sufficient program age (at least one year), sufficient program size (at least 1,500 students), a similar award amount as (at least 90 percent of) the state per-pupil funding allocation, and comparable achievement data for ESA and non-ESA students.
  • Researchers could examine the impact of ESAs on college entrance exam performance and college enrollment by connecting information about students who used ESAs with existing sources that follow students through college.
  • Researchers could make significant contributions to the existing empirical literature on ESAs by answering descriptive research questions about ESA programs in areas that extend beyond academic achievement.
  • States interested in evaluating the effects of ESAs must create new data infrastructure and data-sharing practices. If states are particularly interested in evaluating the effects of ESAs on academic achievement, they also may have to implement testing requirements for ESA students.

Recommendations

  • If states want to understand whether ESA students’ academic achievement grows over time, they should consider tracking ESA students' performance on high-quality standardized assessments.
  • If states want to compare college access, persistence, and completion for ESA and non-ESA students, they should consider collecting ACT scores, SAT scores, or any available higher-education matriculation data.
  • If states want to compare K–12 academic outcomes for ESA and non-ESA students, they should consider requiring ESA students to take high-quality standardized tests.
  • If states want to compare student engagement for ESA and non-ESA students, they should consider collecting data on attendance or disciplinary data, such as suspension and expulsion.
  • States should develop research partnerships that allow researchers to obtain restricted-use student-level data.
  • States should create longitudinal data repositories for ESA students.
  • When ESA programs are oversubscribed, states should consider using lotteries to allocate ESAs.
  • In the short term, researchers should pursue research that focuses on other understudied aspects of ESA programs but that does not require comparable academic achievement data.
  • In the longer term, researchers should develop partnerships with states willing to study ESA programs.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual

Roy, Susha, Heather L. Schwartz, and Alexis Gable, The Path Toward Evaluating the Impacts of Education Savings Accounts on Academic Achievement Outcomes, RAND Corporation, RR-A3431-1, 2024. As of April 8, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3431-1.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Roy, Susha, Heather L. Schwartz, and Alexis Gable, The Path Toward Evaluating the Impacts of Education Savings Accounts on Academic Achievement Outcomes. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3431-1.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

This research was sponsored by the Walton Family Foundation and conducted by RAND Education and Labor.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.