Explaining Charter School Effectiveness

• Main Authors: Angrist, Joshua (Contributor), Pathak, Parag (Contributor), Walters, Christopher R. (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Economic Association, 2015-03-24T18:59:37Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Lottery estimates suggest Massachusetts' urban charter schools boost achievement well beyond that of traditional urban public schools students, while nonurban charters reduce achievement from a higher baseline. The fact that urban charters are most effective for poor nonwhites and low-baseline achievers contributes to, but does not fully explain, these differences. We therefore link school-level charter impacts to school inputs and practices. The relative efficacy of urban lottery sample charters is accounted for by these schools' embrace of the No Excuses approach to urban education. In our Massachusetts sample, Non-No-Excuses urban charters are no more effective than nonurban charters
Institute of Education Sciences (U.S.) (Award R305A120269)
National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant SES-1056325)
Massachusetts. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education