- Charter School Effects in Indianapolis: An Analysis of Student Achievement Gains
Authors: Anna Nicotera, Maria Mendiburo, Mark Berends
Year: 2011 - Source: School Choice & School Improvement: What have we learned?
- Research Brief
Abstract:
Charter schools are a popular and growing area of school choice in the United States, but current research about their effects on student achievement is mixed. In this paper, the reserchers analyze student achievement gains in Indianapolis from 2002-03 to 2005-06. Using student fixed-effects models and both fall-spring and spring-spring gains, they estimate the effect of switching to a charter school on student achievement. While they find that students who switch to charter schools in Indianapolis experience positive gains in both math and reading compared with their gains trajectories in traditional public schools, the researchers caution the generalizability of these findings beyond the students who made the switches due to small sample size and the possibility of upward bias in the results.This paper is published in a book from the Harvard Education Press.
-
NCSC Project: School Choice and School Improvement - Type of School Choice: charter schools
- Keywords:
student achievement