Charter Schools Boost College Graduation Rates, Study Finds

A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research has provided even more evidence that charter schools can boost students’ academic potential when compared to typical public schools.

The paper, which studied a sample of students enrolled in 15 urban and nine nonurban charter schools in Massachusetts, found that students enrolled in the charter schools were significantly more likely to enroll in and graduate from a four-year college than their noncharter peers. What’s more, those enrolled in urban charters saw a significant bump in their test scores. Nonurban charter students, however, saw a small decline in their scores—though not in their college attendance rate.

After two years enrolled in an urban charter school, student test scores increased by almost half a standard deviation in math and 30 percent of a standard deviation in English. For nonurban charter students, their scores actually decreased modestly, declining around 10 percent of a standard deviation in math and English.

However, this didn’t seem to hurt their college attendance and graduation rates. Students in nonurban charter schools were 10 percentage points more likely to attain a four-year degree than their counterparts in traditional public schools. Urban charter students saw a 4.1-point jump in attainment.

Why did nonurban charter students not get the same score boost as their urban counterparts? According to the authors, it likely comes down to differences in the student bodies and educational philosophy at urban and nonurban charters.

The urban charter schools most often took a “No Excuses” strategy based in “a culture of high expectations, frequent teacher observations and feedback, data-driven instruction, use of tutoring, and strict disciplinary practices,” according to the researchers. Those schools “served a primarily minority and economically disadvantaged population. The nonurban schools did not, embracing alternative charter school models and serving primarily white children. APW find that the different practices and student bodies help account for the different test scores trajectories, aligning with the existing literature on charter schools.”

This latest paper mostly confirms what researchers have long known about charter schools. While imperfect, they are a key alternative to public schools. For low-income minority parents, that often means getting their child out of a struggling urban school district. For middle-class parents, in contrast, charters also offer expanded choice, one that allows them to deprioritize pure academic achievement in favor of an alternative educational experience. 

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