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School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools

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  • Mark Berends

    (Department of Sociology University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN 46556 Author email: mberends@nd.edu)

  • R. Joseph Waddington

    (College of Education University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506 Author email: rjwaddington@uky.edu)

Abstract

School choice researchers are often limited to comparing one type of choice with another (e.g., charter schools vs. traditional public schools). One area researchers have not examined is the effects of different school types within the same urban region. We fill this gap by analyzing longitudinal data for students (grades 3–8) in Indianapolis, using student fixed effects models to estimate the impacts of students switching from a traditional public school to a charter, magnet, Catholic, or other private school. We find that students experience no differences in their achievement gains after transferring from a traditional public school to a charter school. However, students switching to magnet schools experience modest annual losses of -0.09 standard deviation (SD) in mathematics and -0.11 SD in English Language Arts. Students switching to Catholic schools also experience annual losses of -0.18 SD in mathematics. These findings are robust to a series of alternative model specifications. Additionally, we find some variability in the mean school type impacts by students’ race/ethnicity, English language learner status, and number of years enrolled in a choice school. We discuss our results in the context of the variability of choice school effects across an entire urban area, something future research needs to examine.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark Berends & R. Joseph Waddington, 2018. "School Choice in Indianapolis: Effects of Charter, Magnet, Private, and Traditional Public Schools," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 13(2), pages 227-255, Spring.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:edfpol:v:13:y:2018:i:2:p:227-255
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    Cited by:

    1. Edmark, Karin & Hussain, Iftikhar & Haelermans, Carla, 2020. "The Impact of Voucher Schools: Evidence From Swedish Upper Secondary Schools," Working Paper Series 3/2020, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    2. Justus J. Randolph & Anaya Bryson & Lakshmi Menon & David K. Henderson & Austin Kureethara Manuel & Stephen Michaels & debra leigh walls rosenstein & Warren McPherson & Rebecca O'Grady & Angeline S. L, 2023. "Montessori education's impact on academic and nonacademic outcomes: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), September.
    3. Mika Kortelainen & Kalle Manninen, 2019. "Effectiveness of Private and Public High Schools: Evidence from Finland," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 65(4), pages 424-445.

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