National Evaluation of Charter Middle Schools¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 4 claims (4 for) · 2 studies (2 causal), q2–q3 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A federal evaluation, conducted under the associated project Charter Schools: Are They Effective? with a time frame of 2003-2010, that "examined how admission to about 30 charter middle schools affected students’ achievement." This brief extends it by examining "if the charter middle schools included in the National Evaluation affected students’ college enrollment and completion" and the link between each school's achievement results and these longer-term outcomes.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Requires admission lotteries or comparable admission processes across the participating charter middle schools to support impact estimation

Constraints¶

• Findings apply to the about 30 charter middle schools included in the evaluation

Target Learners¶

• Middle school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• Academic achievement
• College enrollment
• College completion

Claims¶

• Charter middle schools' success in raising middle school achievement was not related to their success in improving students' college enrollment and completion [+M]
• Being admitted to a charter middle school in the National Evaluation of Charter Middle Schools did not affect students' chances of enrolling in or completing college [+M]
• In the earlier National Evaluation of Charter Middle Schools, admission to about 30 charter middle schools produced no significant average effects on achievement, though some schools improved achievement [+M]
• A national randomized study of the impacts of charter schools on student achievement was conducted (2003-2010), prepared for the U.S. Department of Education [+W]

Related Elements¶

• Large-scale experimental evaluation of charter middle schools (Gleason et al., 2010)
• National randomized study of charter school effectiveness (Working Paper 3, Mathematica Policy Research)
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) project, 2008-2012

Examples¶

• Evaluate charter schools against longer-term outcomes such as college enrollment and completion, not only short-term achievement

Key Sources¶

• Kate Place, Philip Gleason. (2019). Do Charter Middle Schools Improve Students' College Outcomes? (Evaluation Brief). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/