REACH Publications

The Effects of Universal School Vouchers on Private School Tuition and Enrollment: A National Analysis

September 11, 2025 | By Douglas N. Harris, Gabriel Olivier

Similar programs in states across the country have so far raised private school enrollment by 3-4%, but these modest gains mask bigger shifts ahead, including rising tuition and benefits flowing mainly to higher-income families and small, religious schools.

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A Year That Forced Change: Examining How Schools and School Systems Adapted to the Challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Calls for Racial Justice in 2020

July 18, 2023 | By Huriya Jabbar, Taylor Enoch-Stevens, Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, Julie A. Marsh, Eupha Jeanne Daramola, Jacob Alonso, Jeremy Singer, Chanteliese Watson, Laura Mulfinger, Kait Ogden, Dwuana Bradley, Annie Hemphill, Sheneka Williams, Kate Kennedy

These two reports explore how educational institutions and their systems responded to two sudden disruptions, the COVID-19 pandemic and increased awareness of racial inequity. We compared responses from traditional, charter, voucher-receiving private schools and rural and urban districts.

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Online Reviews Are Leading Indicators of Changes in K-12 School Attributes

May 28, 2023 | By Linsen Li, Aron Culotta, Douglas N. Harris, Nicholas Mattei

In this paper, we investigate to what extent the language used in online reviews of a school is predictive of changes in the attributes of that school, such as its socio-economic makeup and student test scores.

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Virtual Charter Students Have Worse Labor Market Outcomes as Young Adults

May 24, 2023 | By Paul Y. Yoo, Thurston Domina, Andrew McEachin, Leah Clark, Hannah Hertenstein, Andrew Penner

Virtual charter schools are increasingly popular, yet there is no research on the long-term outcomes of virtual charter students. We link statewide education records from Oregon with earnings information from IRS records housed at the U.S. Census Bureau to provide evidence on how virtual charter students fare as young adults.

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COVER How Authorizers Shape Equity 2023 01 10

How Charter Authorizers Shape Equity: A Cross-State Analysis of Charter Applications

January 10, 2023 | By Katrina Bulkley, Amanda Lu, Kate Meza Fernandez, Alica Gerry

This study examines the role of authorizers in advancing equity-focused charter schools.

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School Choice and Competition for Teachers: Evidence from Michigan

December 20, 2022 | By Kaitlin P. Anderson

This study from Kaitlin P. Anderson examines how competition from school choice relates to the distribution of teacher characteristics across school contexts in Michigan.

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COVER PAGE REACH 5 A Teacher Supply Policy Brief 2022 10 27

How Do Charter Schools Affect the Supply of Teachers from University-Based Education Programs?

October 27, 2022 | By Douglas N. Harris, Mary Penn

This study examines how charter schools affect the number of traditionally prepared teachers who receive a bachelor’s degree in education.

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Cover Page REACH 2 E MSU Distance and School Choice Policy Brief 2022 10 18

The Roles of Residential Mobility and Distance in Participation in Public School Choice

October 18, 2022 | By Danielle Sanderson Edwards, Joshua M. Cowen

This study examines the relationship between residential decisions, commute time to school, and exit from inter-district and charter school choice in Michigan.

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COVER MSU Transportation 2 F Policy Brief

How Does School Bus Transportation Affect Student Attendance and Achievement?

July 19, 2022 | By Danielle Sanderson Edwards

This study analyzes how bus eligibility impacts student attendance and achievement in Michigan where almost half of the largest districts limit bus transportation to students who live more than 1.5 miles from school.

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What Happens When Families Whose Schools Close Receive EdNavigator Support and OneApp Priority?

June 14, 2022 | By Jon Valant

This study examines enrollment and achievement outcomes for New Orleans students whose schools closed at the end of the 2017-18 school year. In that year, families from closing schools were offered two types of assistance in the form of priority in the centralized enrollment system and help from the nonprofit EdNavigator in selecting their next placement.

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COVER REACH National Closure Restructuring 2022 05 24

Extreme Measures: A National Descriptive Analysis of Closure and Restructuring of Traditional Public, Charter, and Private Schools

May 24, 2022 | By Douglas N. Harris, Valentina Martinez-Pabon

This study provides the first analysis of closure and restructuring trends for essentially all schools nationwide over the past 30 years. We analyze the annual closure and restructuring rates of all schools across the United States, how these rates changed over time, and what factors predict closure and restructuring.

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