Charter School Effects on School Segregation. Research Report

In this study, the authors provide the first nationally comprehensive examination of charter school effects on school segregation using longitudinal data on public school enrollment by grade level and race or ethnicity. The authors identify the causal charter school effects on segregation exploiting between-grade-level variation in the dynamics of charter school enrollment share within a school district in a given year from 1998 to 2015. Key findings include: (1) The finding that increasing charter school enrollment leads to small increases in segregation holds for cities and counties as well as school districts. The averages, however, mask considerable variation across districts, cities, and states; (2) The segregative effects of charter schools are greater in urban districts with high shares of black and Hispanic students and in suburban districts with low black and Hispanic representation; and (3) Charter schools have no discernible impact on the segregation of metropolitan areas. This is because the increase in segregation within districts in metropolitan areas is offset by greater integration between districts within the same metropolitan area. Essentially, districts within a metropolitan area become more diverse, but the schools within those districts do not become more integrated. [Olivia Piontek provided assistance in preparing this paper.]