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Martin F. Lueken Anna M. Jacob Jennifer Ash Prepared for the Campbell Collaboration Colloquium

The Effects of Charter Competition on Academic Outcomes: A Review of U.S. Evidence. Martin F. Lueken Anna M. Jacob Jennifer Ash Prepared for the Campbell Collaboration Colloquium Copenhagen 2012 Thursday, May 31 2012. Introduction. What is a charter school in the United States?

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Martin F. Lueken Anna M. Jacob Jennifer Ash Prepared for the Campbell Collaboration Colloquium

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  1. The Effects of Charter Competition on Academic Outcomes: A Review of U.S. Evidence Martin F. Lueken Anna M. Jacob Jennifer Ash Prepared for the Campbell Collaboration Colloquium Copenhagen 2012 Thursday, May 31 2012

  2. Introduction • What is a charter school in the United States? • Considered a public school • Subject to laws that govern public schools • More autonomous than traditional public schools (TPS) – usually not subject to other controls (i.e. collective bargaining agreements) • E.g. can set own academic calendar, less restricted in hiring decisions

  3. INTRODUCTION • 1991, Minnesota passed first charter law in United States • Political compromise in response to push for education vouchers • Today, 41 states with charter school laws • Charter schools serve over 1.5 million students

  4. background • Context: charter schools part of school choice movement • Increase school options • Threat to traditional public schools (TPS) to lose students, hence funding  incentive to improve • TPS options: • Improve teaching, how they use resources, etc. (constructive response) • Exert efforts to block reform, barriers to entry (non-constructive response)

  5. Background

  6. Charter effects • Two effects of charter schools • Direct effect: how well do charter school students achieve relative to TPS students? • Indirect effect: how do other schools behave in face of charter competition?

  7. Research question What is the effect of charter school competition on student achievement in other traditional public schools?

  8. Challenges to systematic review • Analytic Challenges • Endogeneity must be addressed in charter school studies (e.g. charter school location not random) • Outcome measures (student level vs. school level) • Variation in charter environments • Charter laws vary significantly by state • Some laws encourage competition, some laws impede competition • Funding levels, caps on # of schools or students, restriction on locations

  9. Inclusion criteria • How wide the net? • Definition of charter competition • Include studies with any measure of competition • Grades • Focus on grades K-12 • Geographic level • Include studies addressing competition up to state level

  10. Inclusion Criteria • Sample period: 2002 and later • Geographic/language: United States/English only • Types of studies: • only quantitative studies that attempt to account for endogeneity problem (e.g. regressions with instrumental variables or fixed effects) • must include statistical control for pre-test • Must include comparison group • Outcomes: student scholastic achievement in math and reading measured by standardized exams

  11. Search strategy Phase 1: Identify Databases Phase 2: Title Review Phase 3: Abstract Review Phase 4: Methods Review Phase 5: Coding Phase 6: Final Inclusion Decision Phase 7: Synthesis

  12. Search Strategy • Searched electronic databases • Google Scholar, PsycINFO, ProQuest, EconLit • Searched grey literature • NBER working papers, dissertations and theses • Hand-searched relevant journals • Journal of School Choice, • Education Next • Reviewed introduction and literature reviews of included studies

  13. Locations under study

  14. Measures of charter competition • Number of charter schools within a district or within some specified distance (8) • Enrollment shares of charter schools by district (7) • Distance from TPS to nearest charter school (4) • Student transfer rates from TPS to charter schools (4) • Whether charter school is present in district (2)

  15. Characteristics of 15 Studies • Sources • Peer-reviewed = 8 • Dissertations = 3 • Working papers = 2 • Reports = 2 • Analytic Methods • Fixed effects = 9 • Difference-in-differences = 3 • Instrumental variables = 3 • Level of data • Student = 8 • School = 7

  16. Simple Vote counting

  17. Anticipated Challenges Shocks to life-as-usual

  18. Anticipated Challenges • Challenges in gathering data from studies • Which estimates to include? • Numerous models and robustness checks run • Some studies (i.e. Zimmer & Buddin, 2009) estimate effects separately for elementary, middle, and high schools; others (i.e. Sass, 2006) produce an aggregate estimate for all grades • Outcome measures? • Most studies use individual student test scores • Some studies (school-level data) use schools’ proficiency rates as outcomes • How to compute effect size? Two separate ones?

  19. Conclusions • Currently planning how to best meta-analyze data • Potential moderator analyses • Effect sizes by states • Effect sizes by district level • Effect sizes by racial background

  20. Contact Martin F. Lueken University of Arkansas mlueken@uark.edu Anna M. Jacob University of Arkansas ajacob@uark.edu Jennifer Ash University of Arkansas jash@uark.edu

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