TEACHING TO THE STUDENT: CHARTER SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS IN SPITE OF PERVERSE INCENTIVES

Abstract Recent work has shown that Boston charter schools raise standardized test scores more than their traditional school counterparts. Critics of charter schools argue that charter schools create those achievement gains by focusing exclusively on test preparation, at the expense of deeper learning. In this paper, I test that critique by estimating the impact of charter school attendance on subscales of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and examining them for evidence of score inflation. If charter schools are teaching to the test to a greater extent than their counterparts, one would expect to see higher scores on commonly tested standards, higher-stakes subjects, and frequently tested topics. Despite incentives to reallocate effort away from less frequently tested content to highly tested content, and to coach to item type, I find no evidence of this type of test preparation. Boston charter middle schools perform consistently across all standardized test subscales

Charter Schools and the Road to College Readiness: The Effects on College Preparation, Attendance and Choice

The analysis here focuses on Boston's charter high schools. For the purpose of this report, an analysis of high schools is both a necessity and a virtue. It is necessary to study high schools because most students applying to charters in earlier grades are not yet old enough to generate data on postsecondary outcomes. Charter high schools are also of substantial policy interest: a growing body of research argues that high school may be too late for cost-effective human capital interventions. Indeed, impact analyses of interventions for urban youth have mostly generated disappointing results.This report is interested in ascertaining whether charter schools, which in Massachusetts are largely budget-neutral, can have a substantial impact on the life course of affected students. The set of schools studied here comes from an earlier investigation of the effects of charter attendance in Boston on test scores.The high schools from the earlier study, which enroll the bulk of charter high school students in Boston, generate statistically and socially significant gains on state assessments in the 10th grade. This report questions whether these gains are sustained

Stand and Deliver: Effects of Boston’s Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice

We use admissions lotteries to estimate effects of attendance at Boston’s charter high schools on college preparation and enrollment. Charter schools increase pass rates on Massachusetts’ high-stakes exit exam, with large effects on the likelihood of qualifying for a state-sponsored scholarship. Charter attendance also boosts SAT scores sharply and increases the likelihood of taking an Advanced Placement (AP) exam, the number of AP exams taken, and AP scores. Charters induce a substantial shift from 2- to 4-year institutions, though the effect on overall college enrollment is modest. Charter effects on college-related outcomes are strongly correlated with charter effects on earlier tests.Institute of Education Sciences (U.S.) (Grant 08120031)NewSchools Venture Fun

Charter School Demand and Effectiveness: A Boston Update

This report begins with a focus on applications to charter schools. While much attention has been focused on charter school waitlists, waitlist data can be misleading. It includes duplicates, but also includes waitlists that have been rolled over from year to year and might be an unrealistic measure of demand. Instead, the authors investigate three factors related to demand: the yearly percentage of each middle school and high school class that applies to a charter in our lottery sample; the percentage of applicants that receive an offer from a charter school; and where students ultimately attend. This report also examines the demographic makeup of charter school enrollees and compare it to BPS. The next section follows the path of charter school students and report their performance in charters using the evidence from the lotteries. The lottery sample now covers many more charter schools. The 2009 report included findings from eight schools. This report includes MCAS results through 2012 from 12 schools and many more cohorts from the original schools, with additional newly opened schools contributing to the demand analysis. In addition to updating the test score results from the 2009 report, this report breaks down the test score effects by student subgroups. Trends are investigated over time in charter performance and by school groups. Finally, this report gives results using statistical controls, which allow the authros to estimate effects for attending charter schools that do not have sufficient lottery records for the more rigorous lottery based analysis. The lottery sample now contains almost all Boston charter schools with entry grades at middle or high school

Student Achievement in Massachusetts ’ Charter Schools

Schools. Informing the Debate provided evidence of the impact of Boston-based charter schools on student performance. We are pleased to advance this research with this current report, which looks at the impact of charter schools statewide. The findings are provocative. They suggest that students in Massachusetts ’ charter middle and high schools often perform better academically than their peers in traditional public schools. The results are particularly large for students at charter middle schools and at schools located in urban areas, two areas where traditional public schools have found it most challenging to improve student performance. Longer school days, more instructional time on core content, a “no excuses ” philosophy, and other structural elements of school organization appear to contribute to the positive results from these schools. Perhaps most importantly, many of these elements could be implemented in traditional public schools, providing us with potential models for improvement across the Commonwealth. We look forward to continuing to learn from our charter schools about their strategies for success and to working with stakeholders statewide on using school redesign as a potential lever for improving student performance