Student Achievement in Massachusetts' Charter Schools

January 2011
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Susan Dynarski, Joshua Angrist, Sarah Cohodes, Jon Fullerton, Thomas Kane, Parag Pathak, Christopher Walters

Researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, MIT, and the University of Michigan have released the results of a new study that suggests that urban charter schools in Massachusetts have large positive effects on student achievement at both the middle and high school levels. Results for nonurban charter schools were less clear; some analyses indicated positive effects on student achievement at the high school level, while results for middle school students were much less encouraging.

This study was funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education through a grant from the United States Department of Education Charter Schools Program. The authors thank Carrie Conaway and Mary Street at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for providing access to the Massachusetts data and facilitating this project. Charter school leaders and staff members generously supplied their time and lottery records. Matt Beestermoeller, Katherine Cole, Ashley Mostaghimi, Christian Perez, and Colin Taylor provided expert research assistance. Linda Walsh provided editorial assistance.