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Measuring the effect of charter schools on public school student achievement in an urban environment: Evidence from New York City

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  • Winters, Marcus A.

Abstract

This paper uses student level data from New York City to study the relationship between a public school losing enrollment to charter school competitors and the academic achievement of students who remain enrolled in it. Geographic measures most often used to study the effect of school choice policies on public school student achievement are not well suited for densely populated urban environments. I adopt a direct approach and measure charter school exposure as the percentage of a public school's students who exited for a charter school at the end of the previous year. Depending on model specification, I find evidence that students in schools losing more students to charter schools either are unaffected by the competitive pressures of the choice option or benefit mildly in both math and English.

Suggested Citation

  • Winters, Marcus A., 2012. "Measuring the effect of charter schools on public school student achievement in an urban environment: Evidence from New York City," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 293-301.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:31:y:2012:i:2:p:293-301
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.08.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah R. Cohodes & Elizabeth M. Setren & Christopher R. Walters, 2021. "Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston's Charter School Sector," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 138-167, February.
    2. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    3. Ridley, Matthew & Terrier, Camille, 2018. "Fiscal and education spillovers from charter school expansion," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91700, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Sorensen, Lucy C. & Holt, Stephen B., 2021. "Sorting it Out: The Effects of Charter Expansion on Teacher and Student Composition at Traditional Public Schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. David M. Welsch & David M. Zimmer, 2015. "The Relationship Between Student Transfers and District Academic Performance: Accounting for Feedback Effects," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(3), pages 399-422, July.
    6. Toma, Eugenia & Zimmer, Ron, 2012. "Two decades of charter schools: Expectations, reality, and the future," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 209-212.
    7. Tavares, Priscilla Albuquerque, 2015. "The impact of school management practices on educational performance: Evidence from public schools in São Paulo," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-15.
    8. Sarah A. Cordes, 2018. "In Pursuit of the Common Good: The Spillover Effects of Charter Schools on Public School Students in New York City," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(4), pages 484-512, Fall.
    9. Jinnai, Yusuke, 2014. "Direct and indirect impact of charter schools’ entry on traditional public schools: New evidence from North Carolina," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 452-456.
    10. Irmert, Natalie & Bietenbeck, Jan & Mattisson, Linn & Weinhardt, Felix, 2024. "Autonomous Schools, Achievement, and Segregation," IZA Discussion Papers 17462, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Brian P. Gill & Jennifer S. Lerner & Paul Meosky, "undated". "Re-Imagining Accountability in K-12 Education: A Behavioral Science Perspective," Mathematica Policy Research Reports d0c19d0709b641259fe391b2e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, 2014. "Handing Over the School Keys: The Impact of Privatisation on Education Quality," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 196-210, June.
    13. Winters, Marcus A. & Clayton, Grant & Carpenter, Dick M., 2017. "Are low-performing students more likely to exit charter schools? Evidence from New York City and Denver, Colorado," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 110-117.
    14. John D. Singleton, 2019. "Incentives and the Supply of Effective Charter Schools," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2568-2612, July.
    15. Christian Buerger, 2020. "The Influence of Finance Policies on Charter School Supply Decisions in Five States," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 44-74, June.
    16. Helen F. Ladd & John D. Singleton, 2020. "The Fiscal Externalities of Charter Schools: Evidence from North Carolina," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 15(1), pages 191-208, Winter.
    17. Natalie Irmert & Jan Bietenbeck & Linn Mattisson & Felix Weinhardt, 2023. "Autonomous Schools, Achievement, and Segregation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10831, CESifo.
    18. Bruhn, Jesse & Imberman, Scott & Winters, Marcus, 2022. "Regulatory arbitrage in teacher hiring and retention: Evidence from Massachusetts Charter Schools," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    19. Jeffrey Max & Christina Tuttle & Philip Gleason & Diana McCallum & Brian Gill, "undated". "How Does School Choice Affect Student Achievement in Traditional Public Schools?," Mathematica Policy Research Reports b36d8f1911714dd68ceac8a3e, Mathematica Policy Research.
    20. Dennis Epple & Richard Romano & Ron Zimmer, 2015. "Charter Schools: A Survey of Research on Their Characteristics and Effectiveness," NBER Working Papers 21256, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Kim, Youngran, 2018. "The effects of school choice on achievement gaps between private and public high schools: Evidence from the Seoul high school choice program," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 25-32.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Charter schools; Competitive effects; School choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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