The District-Wide Impact of Charter School Implementation

Abstract

In this dissertation I examine the impact of charter school implementation for public school districts which did not previously have any operating charter schools. In contrast with most of the previous literature, I examine the impact on district-wide outcomes, rather than focusing specifically on the impact for students of either charter schools or traditional public schools. I use an event study difference-in-differences methodology applied to U.S. national data to estimate the causal impact on these outcomes. In Chapter 2, I find small and statistically insignificant effects of charter school introduction on mean test scores (ATT = 0.0169, s.e. = 0.013) and increasing and statistically significant effects on achievement inequality (ATT = 0.0599, s.e. = 0.017). In Chapter 3, I find substantively and statistically significant effects of charter school introduction on both median household income (ATT = $1,377, s.e.=$555) and the proportion of district residents with at least a bachelor’s degree (ATT = 0.022, s.e.=0.006). In Chapter 4, I find substantial and statistically significant effects of charter school introduction on district Average Freshmen Graduation Rates (ATT = 0.0597, s.e.= 0.0274). In each chapter, I discuss how policymakers should consider these findings in the context of weighing charter schools as a policy option.