Lottery-based study of 33 charter middle schools across 13 states¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The evidence base for this article is a lottery-based study of "a broad set of 33 charter middle schools across 13 states." Because admission was determined by randomized admissions lotteries, the authors could compare test score outcomes of students admitted to these schools with outcomes of applicants who were not admitted, yielding randomized estimates of charter school impacts. The study was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education with a 2003-2010 time frame.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Schools must use randomized admissions lotteries with oversubscribed applicant pools so admitted and non-admitted applicants can be compared

Constraints¶

• Findings apply to charter middle schools in the 13 study states during the 2003-2010 time frame

Target Learners¶

• middle school students applying to charter schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• student achievement in charter middle schools

Claims¶

• Charter middle school impacts were more positive for more disadvantaged schools and students and more negative for the more advantaged [+M]
• Impacts of charter middle schools on achievement varied considerably across schools and students [+M]
• On average, charter middle schools' impacts on student achievement were negative but not statistically significant [+M]

Related Elements¶

Examples¶

• Use school lotteries as a research design for estimating impacts of schools of choice on student outcomes

Key Sources¶

• Melissa A. Clark, Philip M. Gleason, Christina Clark Tuttle, Marsha K. Silverberg. (2015). Do Charter Schools Improve Student Achievement? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, vol. 37, no. 4. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/do-charter-schools-improve-student-achievement