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Since their inception in 1992, the number of charter schools has grown to more than 6,800 nationally, serving nearly three million students. Various studies have examined charter schools' impacts on test scores, and a few have begun to examine longer-term outcomes including graduation and college attendance. This paper is the first to estimate charter schools' effects on earnings in adulthood, alongside effects on educational attainment. Using data from Florida, we first confirm previous research (Booker et al., 2011) that students attending charter high schools are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college. We then examine two longer-term outcomes not previously studied in research on charter schools--college persistence and earnings. We find that students attending charter high schools are more likely to persist in college, and that in their mid-20s they experience higher earnings.

A major concern among opponents to charter schools is whether these schools will serve all students. Some have raised concerns that charter schools will "push out" low-achieving students in hopes of improving the schools' academic profile while minimizing costs by educating fewer challenging students. In this article, we use data from an anonymous major urban school district to examine whether we see exit patterns consistent with the claim that charter schools are more likely to push out low-achieving students than are traditional public schools (TPSs). Overall, we find no empirical evidence to support the notion of push-out.

The size of schools and districts in which they are located has become a salient policy issue in recent years. While consolidation of school districts and expanding high school size were in vogue from the 1960s until recently, funding agencies are now sponsoring projects to reduce school size under the assumption that smaller schools will lead to higher academic achievement. There has been some scholarly work that focuses on the effects of size on achievement and recently, this literature has included district size and the competitive effects that size might generate on educational outcomes. In this paper, we focus explicitly on both district size and school size and look at a particular aspect of educational output. We argue that average daily attendance (ADA) is an output variable that is influenced by the enrollment in a school and the number of schools in a district. School attendance is critical to both achievement and dropout rates and is a directly measurable attribute of schooling. We use data from Texas schools and school districts to estimate size effects on this important policy variable.

Analyzes patterns of private support for public schools by examining a sample of districts and schools in Los Angeles County. Finds that socioeconomic status appears to be related to the level of private support. For example, schools located in high-wealth districts experienced higher levels of parental monetary and in-kind support than those in low-wealth districts. (Contains 13 references.) (PKP)

Examines the impact of variations in capital stock (physical assets) across school districts on student achievement. Uses level of bond indebtedness as a proxy for capital stock. Finds significant positive correlation between district per-student bonded indebtedness and student achievement measured by district mean scores on Michigan's Education Assessment Program. (Contains 31 references.) (PKP)