Charter School Authorizers and Student Achievement

• In Event: Evaluating Charter Schools: Beyond Average Achievement Effects

Abstract

Charter schools continue to be controversial as many debate whether we should promote these schools through formal policies. However, some have moved beyond whether we should have charter schools to how best to design charter policies. Crucial to this discussion is the charter authorizing process, which varies across the nation. For instance, some states only allow districts to authorize charter schools while other states allow a range of authorizers, including the state, districts, nonprofit organizations, counties, and higher educational institutions. In this paper we use individual student-level data from Ohio (which has a range of authorizers) to examine the relationship between student achievement and type of authorizer.

Authors

• Ron Zimmer, Vanderbilt University

• Brian Gill, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

• Kaitlin Tiplady Obenauf, Michigan State University

• Jonathon Attridge, Vanderbilt University