How are NC private school voucher students doing? The test data isn’t public.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- State won’t release private voucher student test data, citing record and format limits.
- Voucher enrollment tripled to 104,599 as of January after state funding rose.
- Researchers suggested approved national tests and optional public dashboards.
There is no publicly available testing data for how North Carolina’s more than 100,000 private school voucher students are performing.
Private schools are required to give nationally-normed standardized tests each school year to Opportunity Scholarship students and to report the data to the state. But the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority (NCSEAA) says the data is either not public record or is not in a form that can be publicly released.
Critics of the private school voucher program say the lack of publicly reported testing data raises questions about its transparency.
“These voucher schools are receiving taxpayer dollars, and it’s important that taxpayers are understanding where their tax dollars are going to and also that the institutions are held responsible for meeting students’ needs,” Elizabeth Paul, senior manager of policy and research at the Public School Forum of North Carolina, said in an interview. “Public schools have to adhere to those requirements, so the same should be true of private schools that receive public dollars.”
But voucher supporters say the best accountability measure is school choice. National School Choice Week, which promotes options such as private schools, homeschooling, charter schools and traditional public schools, runs through Jan. 31.
“When families are free to choose, including given the economic freedom to LEAVE a school that isn’t working, schools are held accountable in the most direct way possible,” Mike Long, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina (PEFNC), said in a statement.
State not publicly reporting voucher student test data
Private schools are required to annually report individual test results for every Opportunity Scholarship student in grades three and higher. Private schools must also report the aggregate test results if they have more than 25 voucher students in grades three, eight and 11.
Citing state law, the NCSEAA says the individual student test performance data is not a public record. The agency says it can’t provide aggregate test scores for schools because there hasn’t been a common test or minimum threshold per grade level from which schools could produce an aggregate report.
“Test scores tell us something, but they don’t tell us everything,” Long said. “Aggregated data — publicly released or otherwise – cannot fully capture a child’s growth, potential, or whether a school is meeting that child’s unique needs, including needs you cannot test for.”
In contrast, public schools are required to publicly release their test results each year. The data is used by the state to give schools an A through F performance grade.
The number of voucher students has tripled in the last two years to 104,599 as of January. The increase was made possible by state lawmakers increasing state funding and opening the voucher program to all families, including wealthy ones and those already attending private schools.
The majority of the state’s private school students are now receiving a voucher of between $3,458 and $7,686 per year to help cover tuition and other costs. The program is on pace to spend a record $575 million this school year with more funding increases planned.
State study looks at voucher program
Amid the program expansion, state legislators commissioned a study to recommend which national standardized tests could be used in grades three and eight in public schools and among voucher students to compare their performance.
“As the (Opportunity Scholarship) Program has expanded, so has the demand for clear information about student learning in schools that accept Opportunity Scholarships,” the report sent to state lawmakers in December said.
The report, conducted by researchers at N.C. State University and Basis Policy Research, didn’t recommend changing the exams that public schools use because it would mean altering the state’s testing and accountability system.
Instead, the researchers suggested narrowing the list of tests that private schools can now use to test voucher students.
“Allowing private schools to select from an approved list preserves autonomy, aligns with current practice, and provides parents/guardians with nationally norm-referenced information,” the report said.
The researchers acknowledged that this approach means it won’t be possible to directly compare the test results of voucher students with public school students.
Should private schools use state tests?
Researchers didn’t recommend the approach used in states such as Indiana that require voucher students to take the same state tests given in public schools. Authors said private schools might use curricula that don’t align with state standards so requiring them to take the state exams would entail high costs, instructional disruption, and significant policy consequences.
But Paul of the Public School Forum said any changes that private schools might need to make to offer state exams would be a fair tradeoff for accepting public dollars.
“If they don’t want to change the test they take, or they don’t want to add that test onto what they’re taking, then they don’t have to accept public dollars,” Paul said.
Long said it’s not feasible to require private schools to take the state’s public school tests.
Should private school test data be public?
The state report also considered a recommendation to create public dashboards summarizing performance of students at schools receiving Opportunity Scholarships. The report said this would increase transparency and help families make educated decisions about where they spend their voucher dollars;
The authors said the dashboards would provide more public information about private school performance but would also require increasing NCSEAA staffing. Ultimately, the authors include the idea in a section called recommendations outside the study’s scope.
Paul said that the minimum baseline should be the NCSEAA making public the private school test results.
“Even if we are to have a testing system such as the one that’s recommended in the report, where they choose from nationally norms tests, the accountability piece is going to come from making those test scores publicly available,” Paul said.
But Long said accountability flows through parents getting the test data for their students directly from the private schools.
“This is transparency … and meaningful transparency,” Long said. “It’s intended to inform parents, guide instructional decisions, and support improvement at the school level. It is not to serve as an instrument of comparison because it lacks context, student background, or prior educational experiences.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
