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Virtual Charter Students Have Worse Labor Market Outcomes as Young Adults

June 2023

Abstract

Virtual charter schools are increasingly popular, yet there is no research on the long-term outcomes of virtual charter students. We link statewide education records from Oregon with earnings information from IRS records housed at the U.S. Census Bureau to provide evidence on how virtual charter students fare as young adults. Virtual charter students have substantially worse high school graduation rates, college enrollment rates, bachelor's degree attainment, employment rates, and earnings than students in traditional public schools. Although there is growing demand for virtual charter schools, our results suggest that students who enroll in virtual charters may face negative long-term consequences.

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study, growth, disadvantaged, education, college, student, enrollment, graduate, schooling, enrollee, school, enrolled, grade

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Internal Revenue Service, General Accounting Office, Department of Education, National Center for Health Statistics, National Institutes of Health, Disclosure Review Board, General Education Development

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