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For-profit versus not-for-profit charter schools: an examination of Michigan student test scores

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  • Cynthia Hill
  • David Welsch

Abstract

The role of for-profit educational organizations in the predominantly public and not-for-profit K-12 US schooling system is being fiercely debated across our nation. Little empirical research is available to help policy-makers develop informed decisions regarding the educational value that for-profit schools provide to our students. This paper fills in part, for the first time in detail, this void. This paper uses a four-year panel of charter schools from the state of Michigan to estimate a school-level education production function and employ a random effects model that controls for student and district characteristics. The results find no evidence of a change in efficiency when a charter school is run by a for-profit company (versus a not-for-profit company). The analysis developed in this paper takes the debate one step further as well, and examines the role that the size of for-profit firms plays in the associated outcomes. There is some evidence that small for-profit companies are either less efficient or enroll a different type of cohort of students than not-for-profit schools.

Suggested Citation

  • Cynthia Hill & David Welsch, 2009. "For-profit versus not-for-profit charter schools: an examination of Michigan student test scores," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 147-166.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:17:y:2009:i:2:p:147-166
    DOI: 10.1080/09645290801977017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Gabriel Heller Sahlgren, 2014. "Handing Over the School Keys: The Impact of Privatisation on Education Quality," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 196-210, June.
    4. Baum, Donald R. & Cooper, Rachel & Lusk-Stover, Oni, 2018. "Regulating market entry of low-cost private schools in Sub-Saharan Africa: Towards a theory of private education regulation," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 100-112.

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