Parental valuation of charter schools and student performance.

• Author: VanderHoff, James
• Position: Report

Students enrolled in charter schools increased by 81 percent from 2002 to 2007, and the number of charter schools increased by 52 percent. (1) Nevertheless, many studies indicate students in charter schools do not score as highly on standard tests as students in traditional public schools. Do parents choose academically inferior schools for their children because other factors are more important? The significance of that question stems from the requirement of scholastically motivated parental choice for competition-induced improvement in public schools. Milton Friedman (1962) and others have argued that parental choice would stimulate public schools to be more academically effective, because dissatisfied parents would move their children from inferior to superior schools, including public charter schools.

This article provides evidence that the value parents place on charter schools, measured by the number of students on an admissions wait list, depends primarily on their academic effectiveness, measured by test scores. An analysis of New Jersey charter schools indicates that a 10 percent increase in test scores results in a 60 to 100 percent increase in the number of students on the waiting list. Also, schools that stress academic excellence in their mission statements have waiting lists 75 percent larger than identical schools that do not stress academic excellence. This study indicates that other characteristics of the schools and their students do not significantly affect parental valuation of charter schools. Thus, this study provides support for academic motivated school choice, a basic requirement for a market-driven enhancement of public school effectiveness.

Previous Research

Charter schools are the most widely available choice schools because they are public schools and face less political opposition from teachers unions than voucher school programs. Charter schools often embrace different philosophies and offer alternative modes of instruction to promote innovation and improvement in public schools. First established in Minnesota in 1991, these new public schools are issued a charter specifying the philosophy, goals, and methods for achieving the goals, and are exempt from some regulations that govern other public schools. There are periodic reviews of the charter schools, and the charter may be revoked if a school does not attract enough students, does not meet its specified goals, or is mismanaged. (2)

The positive assessment of charter schools by parents has fueled the growth of charter schools during the last decade even though the research results on the effectiveness of such schools has been mixed. Studies of Chicago students and a national school sample indicate that students who attended charter schools scored higher on standard tests than students who attended regular public schools (Hoxby and Rockoff 2004, Hoxby 2004). However, studies of Texas students show no difference in performance on standardized tests by charter school students and regular public school students after a two-to-three-year charter school startup period, during which charter school students underperformed (Hanushek et al. 2007, Booker et al. 2007).

In a national sample of fourth grade tests, controlling for student characteristics, Braun, Jenkins, and Grigg (2006) of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that charter school students scored 4.2 percent lower in reading and 4.7 percent lower in math than students of noncharter public schools. Likewise, Bulifco and Ladd (2006) found that North Carolina charter school students scored lower on standard tests than students who attended regular public schools. Meanwhile, Sass (2006) presents evidence that Florida charter school students scored lower on tests initially, but they reached parity with or surpassed regular school students after five years of charter school operation. Hill, Angel, and Christenson (2006) examined every charter school effectiveness study published since 2000 and found only a small difference (both positive and negative) between the performance of charter and regular public school students.

Mixed conclusions also derive from research on the effect of charter school competition on the students who attend nearby traditional public schools. Using national data, Hoxby (2004) found that charter school competition increased the test scores of students who remained in traditional public schools. Similarly, Hanushek et al. (2007) and Booker et al. (2004) found that competition from Texas charter schools increased test scores of noncharter public school students. Finally, Bifulco and Ladd (2006) found that charter school competition in North Carolina had no effect on the scores of non-charter public school students.

Most research on parental choice analyzes survey responses of parents who choose between traditional public schools and either private schools or alternative public schools. According to Schneider, Teske, and Marschall (2000), New York and New Jersey parents list teacher quality and high test scores as the most important factors in school choice. Hamilton and Guin (2005), using parental survey data, found that educational effectiveness is an important factor influencing school choice. Parents in poor neighborhoods were especially concerned with safety and hours of instruction, while parents in richer areas were concerned with the number of honors classes.

Researchers, however, draw mixed conclusions about parental motivations from analyses of students who change schools and the schools that they leave or enter. Hanushek et al. (2007) analyzed Texas students who changed schools and found that exits from both charter schools to traditional public schools and from traditional public schools to charter schools are inversely related to students' test scores. They also found that the magnitude of the effect for those who moved from charter schools is higher, suggesting that charter school choice depends on academic effectiveness. Weither and Tedin (2002), in their study of the Texas schools, found that race and income are the prime determinants of charter school choice: students moved to schools with lower average test scores but with higher income peers and with more racial segregation. Lankford et al. (1995) discovered similar race and income peer effects in their analysis of private/public school choice.

Parental Valuation Model

Charter schools are not allowed to charge tuition or make admission decisions based on entrance exam scores. Consequently, charter schools...