Florida statewide longitudinal data linking charter high school attendance to adult outcomes¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 7 claims (7 for) · 3 studies (3 associational), q2–q3 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The study uses administrative data from Florida to link students' charter high school attendance with later outcomes: high school graduation, college enrollment, college persistence, and earnings in adulthood. The authors state, "Using data from Florida, we first confirm previous research (Booker et al., 2011)" before extending the analysis to outcomes "not previously studied in research on charter schools." The dataset enables estimating charter effects on attainment and earnings rather than test scores alone.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Requires statewide data linking secondary schooling records to postsecondary enrollment and adult earnings records

Constraints¶

• Evidence is limited to Florida students as the article describes its data source

Target Learners¶

• high school students in Florida charter and non-charter public schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• high school graduation
• college enrollment and persistence
• adult earnings

Claims¶

• Charter high school attendees experience higher earnings in their mid-20s [+M]
• Students attending charter high schools are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college [+M]
• Students attending charter high schools are more likely to persist in college [+M]
• The study examines charter high school effects on educational attainment in two settings, Florida and Chicago [+W]
• Charter middle school students who attend a charter high school are 7 to 15 percentage points more likely to earn a standard diploma than those who transition to a traditional public high school [+W]
• Charter middle school students who attend a charter high school are 8 to 10 percentage points more likely to attend college than those who transition to a traditional public high school [+W]
• Charter high schools in Florida and Chicago showed substantial positive effects on both high school completion and college attendance [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Chicago and Florida administrative data for estimating charter high school attainment effects
• Mathematica issue brief on charter high schools' attainment and earnings effects
• Mathematica Working Paper 29 on charter high schools' long-term attainment and earnings effects

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Tim R. Sass, Ron W. Zimmer, Brian P. Gill, Kevin T. Booker. (2016). Charter High Schools' Effects on Long-Term Attainment and Earnings. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 35, issue 3. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/ja-charter-high-schools-effects-on-longterm-attainment-and-earnings