Virtual charter schools provide full-time, tuition-free K-12 education through internet-based instruction. Although virtual schools offer a personalized learning experience, most research suggests these schools are negatively associated with achievement. Few studies account for differential rates of student mobility, which may produce biased estimates if mobility is jointly associated with virtual school enrollment and subsequent test scores. We evaluate the effects of a single, large, anonymous virtual charter school on student achievement using a hybrid of exact and nearest-neighbor propensity score matching. Relative to their matched peers, we estimate that virtual students produce marginally worse ELA scores and significantly worse math scores after one year. When controlling for student mobility during the outcome year, estimates of virtual schooling are slightly less negative. These findings may be more reliable indicators of the independent effect of virtual schooling if matching on mobility proxies for otherwise unobservable negative selection factors.
Moving On Up? A Virtual School, Student Mobility, and Achievement
Keywords
virtual schools, charter schools, student mobility, matching, quasi-experimental design, on-line learning
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/1h20-nk64
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Paul, James D., and Patrick J. Wolf. (). Moving On Up? A Virtual School, Student Mobility, and Achievement. (EdWorkingPaper:
-309). Retrieved from
Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/1h20-nk64Related Resources from the EdExchange
A library of instruments for education research and school improvement
A new model for informed decision-making in education