http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/pdf/HoxbyCharters_Dec2004.pdf
Cambridge, Mass.� Nationwide, a higher percentage of students in
established charter schools are judged proficient on the state reading and
math examinations than in the nearest traditional public school. If a
charter school has been operating for more than nine years, ten percent
more students are scoring at or above the proficiency level in both
subjects.
This finding comes from a new study by Caroline Hoxby of Harvard University
that compares the performance of charter school students with students in
the nearest traditional public school. Ninety-nine percent of all
elementary students in charter schools are included in the study.
For charter schools in operation from five to eight years, Hoxby finds that
five percent more students reach proficiency in reading than their public
school peers. The advantage in math is four percent. For charter schools
that have been in operation from one to four years, the advantage in
reading is 2.5 percent. Overall, five percent of charter school students
are more likely to be proficient in reading and three percent are more
likely to be proficient in math on their state's exams. (All differences
are statistically significant.)
�People involved with charter schools tell you that they improve a lot each
year,� Hoxby said. �In their first years in operation, they might cope
with issues like finding a building. But, after that, they focus on
achievement and it shows. Also, low-performing charter schools never
attract many students and usually exit quickly. It�s the intent of charter
school laws: schools that don�t work for students should not stay in
business.�
Hoxby also finds that students in charter schools that receive at least
forty percent of local public school funding do particularly well on the
state exams. Additionally, charter schools in areas with a high percentage
of poor or Hispanic students appear to provide a special advantage for
their students, as compared to the neighboring public school.
�Charter schools tend to arise in areas where students are disadvantaged
and families have had little ability to exit underperforming schools,�
Hoxby said. �Sure enough, charter schools make the most difference with
such students.�
By adjusting for schools that serve at-risk students, the study focuses on
regular charter schools that are expected to meet the same standards as
traditional public schools. The study�s �matching� method compared charter
schools to public schools that are likely to share the same neighborhood,
same economic conditions, and the same population of students and parents.
The selection of a neighboring public school as the point of comparison
ensured that the groups of students being compared were as similar as
possible. It is also likely that the public school selected for comparison
was the school that most of the charter school students would have
attended, had there been no charter school.
Caroline Hoxby is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University, a Faculty
Affiliate in the Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG), the
director of the Economics of Education Program at the National Bureau of
Economic Research, a member of the Koret Task Force of Education, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Hoover Institution. The research is
funded by a grant (R29HD35983) from the National Institute for Child Health
and Human Development.
A copy of the report is available from the Program on Education
Policy and Governance at the following website:
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/pepg/