Bettinger, E. (2005)

‘The effect of charter schools on charter students and public schools’

Economics of Education Review 24, pp. 133-147

• Estimates the effect of charter schools on both students attending them and students at neighbouring public schools.
• Compares test score gains across repeated cross-sections of 4th graders in Michigan charter schools and neighbouring public schools from 1996 onwards.
• Uses a public school’s proximity to state universities (which have approved 150 of Michigan’s charter schools) as an instrument for the likelihood of charter schools being established nearby.

Key results:

• The author finds that charter schools do not improve test scores or passage rates as rapidly as public schools with similar ‘pre-charter’ test scores.
• He finds no robust, significant evidence that test scores increase or decrease in neighbouring public schools as the number of charters increases.