Study Finds School Choice Closes Low-Income Student Performance Gap

A new report reveals that school choice has significantly narrowed the academic performance gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers.
According to the report, the achievement gap between low-income students and their counterparts in Camden, New Jersey, which had 68 percent of students enrolled in charter schools by 2023, was reduced by 42 percent between the 2010–2011 and 2022–2023 school years.
From 2011 to 2023, the proportion of students attending charter schools in Camden increased, resulting in an increase of more than 20 percent in low-income pupil performance.
The report discovered that the gap in Washington closed by 38 percent during the same period, with 45 percent of pupils enrolled in charter schools.
In Indianapolis, the gap narrowed by 23 percent, with 58 percent of pupils attending charter schools.
The report indicates that nonwhite students are among the most significant beneficiaries of school choice, accounting for 70 percent of charter school pupils in the cities surveyed, despite only making up approximately half of the district.
Charter schools are publicly funded, tuition-free, and accessible to all students.
However, they differ from traditional public schools in their operational flexibility and governance.
Charter schools are subject to the same federal laws regarding nondiscrimination and admission, but they have a greater degree of autonomy over their curriculum, personnel, and scheduling.
Because of the increased self-governance, charter schools can customize and innovate their educational programs to accommodate the unique requirements of their student bodies.
The report emphasizes the substantial increases in academic performance observed in cities with a significant number of charter schools, particularly among low-income students.
Those students have made major strides in closing the achievement disparity with their peers in cities where at least one-third of students attend charter schools or charter-like institutions, according to the study.
This trend has been observed in numerous cities throughout the United States, where public charter schools comprise a significant portion of total school enrollment.
The report indicates that a key factor driving this progress is the higher accountability standards to which charter schools are held.
Unlike traditional district schools, which are rarely closed for poor performance, charter schools must meet specific educational objectives outlined in their charter agreements.
These schools are periodically reviewed, and if they fail to meet the required performance standards, their charters can be revoked.
This performance-based accountability typically creates a system in which underperforming schools are either improved or replaced by higher-performing ones, ensuring that students receive a better education.
The PPI report also recognizes a “spillover effect” in cities that have robust educational choice programs.
In a city that has a combination of traditional and charter schools, the competition among schools fosters improvement throughout the entire system, which is advantageous to all students.
This dynamic motivates traditional public schools to enhance their performance to retain enrollment and encourages them to implement innovative practices from charter schools.
New data from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy’s homeschool research lab show that 90 percent of states reporting data saw an increase in homeschooling in the 2023–2024 school year.
The report examined data from 21 out of 30 states that collect or report homeschool participation information. The other nine states are expected to report data in the coming months.