The Unknown World of Charter High Schools

Most studies focus on the effects of charter attendance on short-term student achievement (test scores), using either data sets that follow students over time or random assignment via school admission lotteries to control for differences between students in charter and traditional public schools. Beyond measuring achievement effects, however, there has been only limited analysis of the impacts of charters on the students who attend them. In this study the authors use data from Chicago and Florida to estimate the effects of attending a charter high school on the likelihood that a student will complete high school and attend college. Given the impact of educational attainment on a variety of economic and social outcomes, a positive result could have significant implications for the value of school-choice programs that include charter high schools. The authors find evidence that charter high schools in both locations have substantial positive effects on both high school completion and college attendance. The results presented in this article suggest that school-choice programs that include alternatives to traditional public high schools may reduce high-school dropout rates and promote college attendance. (Contains 2 figures.)