of Illinois at Chicago ‡University of Illinois at Chicago, and The Brookings Institution † †Stanford University, University of Texas at Dallas, and NBER ‡ ‡University of Texas at Dallas † † †University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Texas at Dallas, and NBER Final version received 26 October 2018.Studies of the charter sector typically compare charters and traditional public schools at a point in time.These comparisons are potentially misleading, because many charter-related reforms require time to generate results. We study quality dynamics among charter schools in the State of Texas from 2001 to 2011. School quality in the charter sector was initially highly variable and on average lower than in traditional public schools. However, exits, improvement of existing charter schools, and higher quality of new entrants increased charter effectiveness relative to traditional public schools despite an acceleration in the rate of sector expansion in the latter half of the decade. We present evidence that reduced student mobility and an increased share of charters adhering to No-Excuses-style curricula contribute to these improvements. Although selection into charter schools becomes more favourable over time in terms of prior achievement and behaviour, such compositional improvements appear to contribute little to the charter sector gains. Moreover, accounting for composition in terms of prior achievement and behaviour has only a small effect on estimates of the higher average quality of No Excuses schools.analyses. Charter schools have been introduced in many educational markets only recently, and deeper understanding of the consequences of this market-oriented reform requires examination of the longer-term dynamics of behaviour and outcomes. Although little comprehensive research exists on the role of market forces driving the evolution of charter school quality, two studies provide evidence consistent with market forces pushing schools to improve. 3 First, Hanushek et al. (2007) show that higher school value-added increases the probability of re-enrolment in charter schools, suggesting that households respond to quality. Second, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) (2013) finds that, although the mean effectiveness of Texas open-enrolment charters relative to the traditional public school (TPS) comparison group still lags the nation as a whole, charter school effectiveness has improved relative to the TPS group in a number of other states. Importantly, CREDO (2013) highlights the contribution of the closure of poorly performing charter schools to these observed improvements.This paper contributes new evidence to this debate by capitalizing on detailed longitudinal data on students and schools in Texas, one of the largest charter school states. It has two principal aims. First, it describes how the distribution of charter school quality evolved between 2001 and 2011, focusing on the role of entry, improvement, voluntary closures, and authorizer intervention. Second, it investigates the extent t...

Studies of the charter sector typically compare charters and traditional public schools at a point in time. These comparisons are potentially misleading, because many charter‐related reforms require time to generate results. We study quality dynamics among charter schools in the State of Texas from 2001 to 2011. School quality in the charter sector was initially highly variable and on average lower than in traditional public schools. However, exits, improvement of existing charter schools, and higher quality of new entrants increased charter effectiveness relative to traditional public schools despite an acceleration in the rate of sector expansion in the latter half of the decade. We present evidence that reduced student mobility and an increased share of charters adhering to No‐Excuses‐style curricula contribute to these improvements. Although selection into charter schools becomes more favourable over time in terms of prior achievement and behaviour, such compositional improvements appear to contribute little to the charter sector gains. Moreover, accounting for composition in terms of prior achievement and behaviour has only a small effect on estimates of the higher average quality of No Excuses schools.

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