Moving On Up? A Virtual School, Student Mobility, and Achievement
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2020
Keywords
Virtual Schools; Charter Schools; mobility; matching
Abstract
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.
Citation
Paul, James D., and Patrick J. Wolf. (2020). Moving On Up? A Virtual School, Student Mobility, and Achievement. (EdWorkingPaper: 20-309). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/1h20-nk64
Comments
EdWorkingPaper No. 20-309