Are Low-Performing Students More Likely to Exit Charter Schools? Evidence from New York City and Denver, Colorado

Winters, M. A., G. Clayton, and D. Carpenter (2017). Are Low-Performing Students More Likely to Exit Charter Schools? Evidence from New York City and Denver, Colorado. Economics of Education Review, vol. 56, pp: 110-117. (Author Copy) (Publisher Copy)

Abstract

A common criticism of charter schools is that they systematically remove or “counsel out” their lowest performing students. However, relatively little is currently known about whether low-performing students are in fact more likely to exit charter schools than surrounding traditional public schools. We use longitudinal student-level data from two large urban school systems that prior research has found to have effective charter school sectors–New York City and Denver, Colorado–to evaluate whether there is a differential relationship between low-performance on standardized test scores and the probability that students exit their schools by sector attended. We find no evidence of a differential relationship between prior performance and the likelihood of exiting a school by sector. Low-performing students in both cities are either equally likely or less likely to exit their schools than are student in traditional public schools.