From Middle School to Charter High School: Exploring Curricular Pathways and Postsecondary Education in Texas

This study examines whether attending a charter high school during the pivotal middle-to-high school transition yields meaningful educational benefits for Texas students who previously graduated from traditional public middle schools. To account for high school mobility, we distinguish charter stayers (who remain in charter high schools) from charter leavers (who return to traditional public schools) and match each group to observationally similar traditional public school (TPS) students (who remain in TPS). Results indicate that charter stayers accumulated more dual-credit coursework and achieved moderately higher standardized exit-exam scores, whereas charter leavers appeared broadly similar to TPS students. In postsecondary outcomes, charter stayers were more likely to enroll on time, attend four-year colleges, and complete degrees earlier, while charter leavers showed little difference in longer-run attainment. These positive associations were concentrated among students attending campus charter high schools, with relatively limited differences for students attending open-enrollment charters.