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Charter schools: non-urban charter schools

Pre-K to 12 Education
  Literature review updated August 2013.
This program was archived December 2024.

While charter schools traditionally operate in urban areas, there is a growing body of literature that examines the impact of attending charters located outside of central cities. This analysis include only studies that measure the impact of attending charter schools located outside of urban areas, including suburban and rural schools. The evidence suggests that charter schools located outside of urban areas have no consistent impact on student test scores compared to traditional public schools. We present the findings for reading scores here.
 
ALL
META-ANALYSIS
CITATIONS

Meta-analysis is a statistical method to combine the results from separate studies on a program, policy, or topic to estimate its effect on an outcome. WSIPP systematically evaluates all credible evaluations we can locate on each topic. The outcomes measured are the program impacts measured in the research literature (for example, impacts on crime or educational attainment). Treatment N represents the total number of individuals or units in the treatment group across the included studies.

An effect size (ES) is a standard metric that summarizes the degree to which a program or policy affects a measured outcome. If the effect size is positive, the outcome increases. If the effect size is negative, the outcome decreases. See Estimating Program Effects Using Effect Sizes for additional information on how we estimate effect sizes.

The effect size may be adjusted from the unadjusted effect size estimated in the meta-analysis. Historically, WSIPP adjusted effect sizes to some programs based on the methodological characteristics of the study. For programs reviewed in 2024 or later, we do not make additional adjustments, and we use the unadjusted effect size whenever we run a benefit-cost analysis.

Research shows the magnitude of effects may change over time. For those effect sizes, we estimate outcome-based adjustments, which we apply between the first time ES is estimated and the second time ES is estimated. More details about these adjustments can be found in our Technical Documentation.

Meta-Analysis of Program Effects
Outcomes measured No. of effect sizes Treatment N Effect sizes (ES) and standard errors (SE) Unadjusted effect size (random effects model)
ES SE Age ES p-value
Test scores
Standardized, validated tests of academic achievement.
11 5 21015 0.011 0.028 11 0.011 0.695

Citations Used in the Meta-Analysis

Angrist, J.D., Pathak, P.A., & Walters, C.R. (2012). Explaining Charter School Effectiveness (Working Paper 12-11). Cambridge, MA: Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Center for Research on Education Outcomes. (CREDO) (2012). Charter school performance in New Jersey. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

Center for Research on Education Outcomes. (CREDO) (2013a). Charter school performance in Massachusetts. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

Center for Research on Education Outcomes. (CREDO) (2013b). Charter school performance in Michigan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Center for Research on Education Outcomes.