Latest Release

What’s Old is New? School Openings, Closings, and Student Achievement

December 20, 2024 | By Danielle Sanderson Edwards, Joshua M. Cowen

This paper examines changes in student achievement following transfers to newly opened schools in Michigan from 2010-11 to 2018-19. Using event study models, it identifies initial disruptive effects on math and English/Language Arts, with recovery over three years. The findings are discussed in the context of the high costs of school construction, resource allocation, and equity, particularly for students of color and lower-income students, who are disproportionately affected.

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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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How Do Charter Schools Affect System-Level Test Scores and Graduation Rates? A National Analysis

February 04, 2022 | By Feng Chen, Douglas N. Harris

In this study, we analyze data from 1995-2016 for all the nation’s publicly funded school systems and find that charter schools increase average graduation rates and math and reading scores across all types of publicly funded schools when charter schools open in their districts.

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