Virtual Illusion: Comparing Student Achievement and Teacher and Classroom Characteristics in Online and Brick-and-Mortar Charter Schools

2020/03/11 by Brian R. Fitzpatrick, Mark Berends, Joseph J. Ferrare +1 · 15 citations
Social Sciences · #School Choice and Performance

paper · doi:10.3102/0013189x20909814

Abstract

As researchers continue to examine the growing number of charter schools in the United States, they have focused attention on the significant heterogeneity of charter effects on student achievement. Our article contributes to this agenda by examining the achievement effects of virtual charter schools vis-à-vis brick-and-mortar charters and traditional public schools and whether characteristics of teachers and classrooms explain the observed impacts. We found that students who switched to virtual charter schools experienced large, negative effects on mathematics and English/language arts achievement that persisted over time and that these effects could not be explained by observed teacher or classroom characteristics.

Citations

• The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects

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• The COVID-19 impact on reading achievement growth of Grade 3-5 students in a U.S. urban school district: variation across student characteristics and instructional modalities. [europepmc]
• How online learning can engage students and extend the reach of talented teachers: evidence from a pandemic-era national virtual summer program. [europepmc]
• Virtual charter students have worse labor market outcomes as young adults. [europepmc]
• An Assessment of the Feasibility and Effectiveness of Distance Learning for Students with Severe Developmental Disabilities and High Behavioral Needs [europepmc]
• In the long shadow of our best intentions: model-based assessment of the consequences of school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic [europepmc]

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