Does Charter School Attendance Improve Test Scores?: Comments and Reactions on the Arizona Achievement Study

W.E. Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 01-70

12 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2001

See all articles by Kevin Hollenbeck

Kevin Hollenbeck

W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Christopher Nelson

Western Michigan University

Date Written: July 2001

Abstract

In a recent report, Solmon, Paark, and Garcia (2001) seek to identify the impact of attending charter schools on student achievement using data from Arizona. Based on a sophisticated statistical analysis, these authors report that charter school attendance increases test score gains of students.

This note raises some questions about the interpretation of the results reported and some questions about the empirical approach and underlying data. First, the report relies on a 2-x-2 evaluation design with type of school (charter or traditional) attended in a base year as the rows and type of school in the ensuing year as the columns. The report compares the observations in a cell of the design matrix to all other cells.

This note questions the validity of that approach and suggests that the way that the data were constructed allows comparisons only across the rows. Second, the note questions whether grade level was used in the data matching procedure used to construct the comparison sample. Third, the note questions whether sex was used as a covariate in the outcomes equation and whether building or district fixed effects were used to control for unobservable factors at those aggregate levels. Finally, the note suggests that marginal costs are more appropriate for a cost-benefit or cost effectiveness analysis than average costs, which were used in the summary section of the report.

Keywords: charter schools, Arizona, student, achievement, test, scores, Hollenbeck, Nelson

JEL Classification: I21

Suggested Citation

Hollenbeck, Kevin and Nelson, Christopher, Does Charter School Attendance Improve Test Scores?: Comments and Reactions on the Arizona Achievement Study (July 2001). W.E. Upjohn Institute Working Paper No. 01-70, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=292228 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.292228

Kevin Hollenbeck (Contact Author)

W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research ( email )

300 South Westnedge Avenue
Kalamazoo, MI 49007-4686
United States
269-343-5541 (Phone)
269-343-3308 (Fax)

Christopher Nelson

Western Michigan University

The Evaluation Center
Kalamazoo, MI 49008
United States