Choosing Charters: Who Leaves Public School as an Alternative Sector Expands?

In recent years, the number of charter schools in Florida has doubled. We examine five years of data on students moving into these schools from the traditional public sector. We consider student attributes and the school and district contexts that they are leaving. The better students are performing relative to their peers, the less likely they are to move into a charter. There are higher rates of minority students in the charter sector, and Hispanics appear especially likely to transfer. On the other hand, special-needs students are less likely to be in charters. White students are more likely to enter a charter school with more white students than minority students who are more likely to move into charters with more minority students. These findings suggest that charter schools do not “cream skim” the best students away from the traditional sector, although there is evidence that charters do not provide an educational home for all.