WWC Review of the Report "Charter-School Management Organizations: Diverse Strategies and Diverse Student Impacts"

Title:	WWC Review of the Report "Charter-School Management Organizations: Diverse Strategies and Diverse Student Impacts"
Description:	The 2012 study, Charter-School Management Organizations: Diverse Strategies and Diverse Student Impacts, examined the effect of non-profit charter-school management organizations (CMOs) on middle school student achievement, high school graduation rates, and post-secondary enrollment rates. CMOs operate multiple charter schools under a common structure and philosophy. The intervention sample included over 13,600 students who attended 68 middle schools operated by 22 CMOs and nearly 2,700 students who attended 13 high schools operated by six CMOs. The authors matched each CMO school student with similar students attending non-CMO public schools. Study authors measured the effectiveness of each CMO separately by comparing the outcomes of CMO school students with those of the non-CMO school students. The study found that the CMOs had no statistically significant impact on state assessments in math, reading, science, or social studies among middle school students. Among the high school sample, there was no statistically significant effect on graduation rates and rates of post-secondary enrollment. However, the average impact on the rate of post-secondary enrollment was substantively important. Researchers also reported impacts separately for each CMO and found substantial variation in the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the impacts. Although the study matched CMO school students to traditional public school students on observable characteristics, it is possible that there were other differences between the two groups that were not accounted for in the analysis but could have influenced student achievement. Therefore, the research described in this report meets WWC evidence standards with reservations.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (339KB)
Cover Date:	August 2012
Web Release:	August 14, 2012
Publication #:	WWC SSRSC12
Center/Program:	WWC
Authors:	WWC
Type of Product:	Single Study Review
Keywords:	Charter School Choice of School
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Single Study Review, please contact: Erin Pollard.