Quality Control In Charter School Research
There’s a fairly large body of research showing that charter schools vary widely in test-based performance relative to regular public schools, both by location as well as subgroup. Yet, you’ll often hear people point out that the highest-quality evidence suggests otherwise (see here, here and here) – i.e., that there are a handful of studies using experimental methods (randomized controlled trials, or RCTs) and these analyses generally find stronger, more uniform positive charter impacts.
Sometimes, this argument is used to imply that the evidence, as a whole, clearly favors charters, and, perhaps by extension, that many of the rigorous non-experimental charter studies – those using sophisticated techniques to control for differences between students – would lead to different conclusions were they RCTs.*
Though these latter assertions are based on a valid point about the power of experimental studies (the few of
Sometimes, this argument is used to imply that the evidence, as a whole, clearly favors charters, and, perhaps by extension, that many of the rigorous non-experimental charter studies – those using sophisticated techniques to control for differences between students – would lead to different conclusions were they RCTs.*
Though these latter assertions are based on a valid point about the power of experimental studies (the few of