Researchers examine the expansion of Propel Schools, a small, regional charter school network in southwestern Pennsylvania, to describe the academic and behavioral experiences of continuing and expansion students from fall 2017 through the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

Expanding Charter School Capacity

The Case of Propel Montour

Louis T. Mariano, Elizabeth D. Steiner, Joseph D. Pane, Rebecca Ann Lawrence

ResearchPublished Sep 29, 2021

In fall 2017, Propel Schools — a small, regional charter school network in southwestern Pennsylvania — initiated the expansion of one of its schools, Propel Montour. Originally a single kindergarten through 8th grade (K–8) school with two classrooms per grade, Montour added a new high school and expanded into separate elementary and middle schools over four years, adding a classroom to each grade. These changes were expected to increase enrollment by about 500 students over the four years of the expansion. Broadly, the goal of the expansion was to replicate the Propel model to assist educationally disadvantaged students to meet high academic and behavioral standards.

Therefore, the authors investigated the Propel Montour expansion and its impact on academic and behavioral outcomes for both continuing students (i.e., students who attended Propel Montour prior to and during the expansion) and expansion students (i.e., students who newly enrolled at Propel Montour during the expansion). They used difference-in-difference and doubly robust regression models to examine the academic and behavioral experiences of both continuing and expansion Montour students from fall 2017 through the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in spring 2020.

The authors did not find evidence that the academic and behavioral experiences of either the continuing or expansion students fell below what would have been expected absent expansion.

Key Findings

  • The authors did not find evidence of any adverse impacts of the expansion of Propel Montour on the academic or behavioral outcomes of continuing Montour students who were enrolled prior to expansion.
  • The authors did not find evidence that students enrolling at Propel Montour during the Montour expansion experienced weaker academic or behavioral outcomes than comparable Propel peers.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Mariano, Louis T., Elizabeth D. Steiner, Joseph D. Pane, and Rebecca Ann Lawrence, Expanding Charter School Capacity: The Case of Propel Montour, RAND Corporation, RR-A1184-1, 2021. As of September 12, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1184-1.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Mariano, Louis T., Elizabeth D. Steiner, Joseph D. Pane, and Rebecca Ann Lawrence, Expanding Charter School Capacity: The Case of Propel Montour. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2021. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1184-1.html.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was sponsored by the Propel Schools Foundation and conducted by RAND Education and Labor.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.