The Impacts of Charter Schools on Student Achievement: Evidence from North Carolina

2006/03/01 by Robert Bifulco, Helen F. Ladd · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Psychology · #School Choice and Performance #Higher Education Research Studies #Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth #Charter #Student achievement #Academic achievement #Charter school #Mathematics education #Panel data #Demographic economics #Political science #Psychology #Economics #Econometrics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/edfp.2006.1.1.50

openalex publication_date 2006/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Using an individual panel data set to control for student fixed effects, we estimate the impact of charter schools on students in charter schools and in nearby traditional public schools. We find that students make considerably smaller achievement gains in charter schools than they would have in public schools. The large negative estimates of the effects of attending a charter school are neither substantially biased, nor substantially offset, by positive impacts of charter schools on traditional public schools. Finally, we find suggestive evidence that about 30 percent of the negative effect of charter schools is attributable to high rates of student turnover.

Citations

• Econometric Analysis of Panel Data
• Charter Schools and Student Achievement in Florida
• Charter school quality and parental decision making with school choice
• The impact of charter school attendance on student performance

Cited by

• Is Charter School Competition in California Improving the Performance of Traditional Public Schools?
• Charter Schools and Student Achievement in Florida
• The Effect of Charter School Openings on Traditional Public Schools in Massachusetts and North Carolina
• Charter schools in the United States [wikipedia]