Evaluate charter school impacts across college enrollment, graduation, attendance, and suspensions over multiple years¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 3 claims (3 for) · 3 studies (2 causal, 1 associational), q3 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The report models a multi-year evaluation approach: it "evaluates the impact of the Kauffman School on college enrollment, high school graduation, attendance, and suspensions during its first nine years of operation." This combines long-run educational attainment outcomes with near-term behavioral outcomes for a charter school, and the evaluation is conducted as an annual series of impact reports (with prior Year 6 through Year 8 reports also published) under an associated evaluation project spanning 2011–2024.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Longitudinal data on enrolled students and a comparison group of similar students in the same city
• Ongoing evaluation capacity, as prepared for the sponsoring foundation over the school's operating years

Constraints¶

• Impacts are specific to one charter school in Kansas City, Missouri, serving a predominantly low-income, Black and Hispanic population

Target Learners¶

• charter school students in grades 5 through 12

Target Learning Goals¶

• college enrollment
• high school graduation
• student attendance and discipline outcomes

Claims¶

• The Kauffman School has a positive, statistically significant impact on enrollment in four-year colleges large enough to close the gap in four-year college enrollment rates for Black high school seniors in Missouri [+W]
• Charter high school students had comparable high school graduation but much higher four-year college enrollment, selective-college enrollment, and four-semester college completion than comparable non-charter students [+W]
• Kauffman School attendance impacts were positive and significant in some grades and not significantly different from zero in others [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Matthew Johnson, Alicia Demers. (2021). Ewing Marion Kauffman School Year 9 Impacts. Mathematica. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/ewing-marion-kauffman-school-year-9-impacts