Executive Summary / References

How we got here

CREDO, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, was established to improve empirical evidence about education reform and student performance at the primary and secondary levels. We support education organizations and policymakers in using reliable research and program evaluation to assess the performance of educational research initiatives. Our valuable insight helps educators and policymakers strengthen their focus on the results of innovative programs, curricula, policies and accountability practices.

Executive Summary

Boast, L., Clifford, B., & Doyle, D. (2020). Learning in real time: How charter schools served students during COVID-19 closures. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Retrieved from https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/publications/how-charter-schools-served-students-during-covid-19-closures.

Childs, J., Grooms, A., & Mozley, M. P. (2022). Hidden in (virtual) plain sight: A charter district’s focus on attendance during COVID-19. Education and Urban Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131245211065414.

CREDO. (2022). Charter Schools’ Response to the Pandemic in California, New York and Washington State. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes. https://credo.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Charter-School-COVID-Final.pdf.

Henderson, M. B., Peterson, P. E., Houston, D., & West, M. R. (2021). What American families experienced when COVID-19 closed their schools. Education Next, 21(1), 22–31.

Mumma, K. S., & West, M. R. (2018). Charter School Authorizing in California. Technical Report. Getting Down to Facts II. Policy Analysis for California Education, PACE.

NACSA. (2016). State of Charter Authorizing 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://qualitycharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-Charter-School-Authorizing-2016-Findings.pdf.

Volumes 1, 2 & 3

Angrist, J. D., Dynarski, S. M., Kane, T. J., Pathak, P. A., & Walters, C. R. (2012). Who benefits from KIPP? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 31(4), 837–860.

Betts, J. R., & Tang, Y. E. (2008). Value-added and experimental studies of the effect of charter schools on student achievement. Center on Reinventing Public Education, Seattle, WA. Retrieved February 24, 2023, https://crpe.org/wp-content/uploads/pub_ncsrp_bettstang_dec08_0.pdf.

Boast, L., Clifford, B., & Doyle, D. (2020). Learning in real time: How charter schools served students during COVID-19 closures. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Retrieved from https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/publications/how-charter-schools-served-students-during-covid-19-closures.

Booker, K., Gill, B., Zimmer, R., & Sass, T. (2009). Achievement and attainment in Chicago charter schools. RAND Corporation. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR585-1.html.

Childs, J., Grooms, A., & Mozley, M. P. (2022). Hidden in (virtual) plain sight: A charter district’s focus on attendance during COVID-19. Education and Urban Society.

Clark, M., Gleason P., Tuttle, C., & Silverberg, M. (2015). Do charter schools improve student achievement? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 37(4), 419‒436. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/43773520.

Corbett, J. (2015). Chartering turnaround: Leveraging public charter school autonomy to address failure. National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

CREDO. (2022). Charter Schools’ Response to the Pandemic in California, New York and Washington State. The Center for Research on Education Outcomes. https://credo.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Charter-School-COVID-Final.pdf.

Cremata, E., Woodworth, J., & Raymond, M. (2015). Urban Charter School Study. https://credo.stanford.edu/reports/item/urban-charter-school-study/.

Cremata, E., Davis, D., Dickey, K., Lawyer, K., Negassi, Y., Raymond, M., & Woodworth, J. (2013). National Charter School Study. Center for Research on Education Outcomes. https://credo.stanford.edu/reports/item/national-charter-school-study/.

Davis, D. H., & Raymond, M. E. (2012). Choices for studying choice: Assessing charter school effectiveness using two quasi-experimental methods. Economics of Education Review, 31(2), 225–236.

De Brey, C., Musu, L., McFarland, J., Wilkinson-Flicker, S., Diliberti, M., Zhang, A., Branstetter, C., & Wang, X. (2019). Status and trends in the education of racial and ethnic groups 2018 (NCES 2019-038). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019038.pdf.

Dobbie, W., & Fryer Jr., R. G. (2015). The medium-term impacts of high-achieving charter schools. Journal of Political Economy, 123(5), 985–1037.

Duncan, G. J., & Murnane, R. J. (2016). Rising inequality in family incomes and children’s educational outcomes. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(2), 142–158.

Egalite, A., & Ackerman, M. (2015). Rethinking charter school evaluations when the gold standard is off the table. Education Next. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.educationnext.org/rethinking-charter-school-evaluations-when-the-gold-standard-is-off-the-table/.

Fazlul, I., Koedel, C., & Parsons, E. (2023). Free and reduced-price meal enrollment does not measure student poverty: Evidence and policy significance. Economics of Education Review, 94. Retrieved March 13, 2023, from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2023.102374.

Furgeson, J., Gill, B., Haimson, J., Killewald, A., McCullough, M., Nichols-Barrer, I., … & Lake, R. (2012). Charter-school management organizations: Diverse strategies and diverse student impacts. Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

Hanushek, E. A., Peterson, P. E., Talpey, L. M., & Woessmann, L. (2019). The achievement gap fails to close. Education Next, 19(3), 8–17.

Hanushek, E. A., & Rivkin, S. G. (2006). Teacher quality. In E. A. Hanushek and F. Welch (Eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Education: Vol. 2 (pp. 1051‒1078). North Holland. Retrieved March 22, 2012, from http://hanushek.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Hanushek%2BRivkin%202006%20HbEEdu%202.pdf.

Henderson, M. B., Peterson, P. E., Houston, D., & West, M. R. (2021). What American families experienced when COVID-19 closed their schools. Education Next, 21(1), 22–31.

Kho, A., Zimmer, R., & McEachin, A. (2022). A descriptive analysis of cream skimming and pushout in choice versus traditional public schools. Education Finance and Policy, 17(1), 160–187.

Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance—School Improvement Fund. (2010). Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. https://oese.ed.gov/legislation-regulations-and-guidance-school-improvement-fund/.

Lehrer-Small, A. (2022). Virtual school enrollment kept climbing even as COVID receded, new data reveal. The74. https://www.the74million.org/article/virtual-school-enrollment-kept-climbing-even-as-covid-receded-new-data-reveal/.

Mead, S., Mitchel, A. L., & Rotherham, A. J. (2015). The state of the charter school movement. Bellwether Education Partners.

Monarrez, T., Kisida, B., & Chingos, M. (2022). The effect of charter schools on school segregation. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 14(1), 301–340.

Mumma, K. S., & West, M. R. (2018). Charter School Authorizing in California. Getting Down to Facts, September 2019.

NACSA. (2016). State of Charter Authorizing 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2023, from https://qualitycharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-Charter-School-Authorizing-2016-Findings.pdf.

Raudenbush, S. W., Jean, M., & Art, E. (2011). Year-by-year and cumulative impacts of attending a high-mobility elementary school on children’s mathematics achievement in Chicago, 1995 to 2005. In G. J. Duncan and R. J. Murname (Eds.) Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances (pp. 359–375). Russell Sage Foundation.

Unlu, F., Lauen, D. L., Fuller, S. C., Berglund, T., & Estrera, E. (2021). Can quasi‐experimental evaluations that rely on state longitudinal data systems replicate experimental results? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 40(2), 572–613.

White, J., & Xu, Y. (2022, December 6). Who Manages Charter Schools? Retrieved August 22, 2022, from https://data.publiccharters.org/digest/charter-school-data-digest/who-manages-charter-schools/.

Woodworth, J. L., Raymond, M., Chirbas, K., Gonzalez, M., Negassi, Y., Snow, W., & Van Donge, C. (2015). Online charter school study 2015. Center for Research on Educational Outcomes.

Woodworth, J. L., & Raymond, M. E. (2013). Charter School Growth and Replication, Vol. 2. Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

Woodworth, J. L., Raymond, M. E., Han, C., Negassi, Y., Richardson, W. P., & Snow, W. (2017). Charter management organizations. Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Booker, K., Lavertu, S., & Witte, J. (2009). Do charter schools “cream skim” students and increase racial-ethnic segregation? Prepared for School Choice and School Improvement: Research in State, District and Community Contexts, Vanderbilt University, October 25–27.

Zimmer, R., Henry, G. T., & Kho, A. (2017). The effects of school turnaround in Tennessee’s achievement school district and innovation zones. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 39(4), 670–696.

Explore the written reports

STUDY I – 2009 National
Charter School Study

STUDY II – 2013 National
Charter School Study

STUDY III – 2023 National
Charter School Study