Getting beneath the veil of effective schools
Subtitle: evidence from New York city
By: Will Dobbie, Roland G. Fryer, Jr
Contributors: Fryer, Jr., Roland G.; National Bureau of Economic Research
Series: NBER working paper series -- working paper 17632; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) -- working paper no. 17632.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Description: "Charter schools were developed, in part, to serve as an R&D engine for traditional public schools, resulting in a wide variety of school strategies and outcomes.  In this paper, we collect unparalleled data on the inner-workings of 35 charter schools and correlate these data with credible estimates of each school's effectiveness.  We find that traditionally collected input measures -- class size, per pupil expenditure, the fraction of teachers with no certification, and the fraction of teachers with an advanced degree -- are not correlated with school effectiveness.  In stark contrast, we show that an index of five policies suggested by over forty years of qualitative research -- frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time, and high expectations -- explains approximately 50 percent of the variation in school effectiveness.  Our results are robust to controls for three alternative theories of schooling: a model emphasizing the provision of wrap-around services, a model focused on teacher selection and retention, and the "No Excuses'' model of education.  We conclude by showing that our index provides similar results in a separate sample of charter schools"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Title from PDF file as viewed on 2/9/2012.

Includes bibliographical references.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.