DOOMED TO FAIL - AN ANALYSIS OF CHARTER SCHOOL CLOSURES FROM 1998 TO 2022

Oct 15, 2026

The report examines charter school closures from 1998 to 2022, focusing on how school choice and aggressive marketing can obscure long-term stability risks for families. It explains that charter closures occur more frequently and with greater disorder than district public-school closures, often leaving parents unable to plan around grades and graduation. Using Common Core of Data (CCD), it tracks survival by cohort and highlights sharply rising failure rates through year ten and beyond.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages42

Reading Time1 h 46 min

AccessFree to download

Executive Summary

Introduction

Section One: Methodology

Section Two: Closure by Cohort

Section Three: Why Charter Schools Close

Section Four: The Process of Charter School Closures

Section Five: Student Displacement

Conclusion

Recommendations

Appendix

Endnotes

November 2024 DOOMED TO FAIL AN ANALYSIS OF CHARTER SCHOOL CLOSURES FROM 1998 TO 2022 table of CONTENTS Executive Summary ................................................ 01 Introduction ............................................................... 04 Section One: Methodology ................................... 06 Section Two: Closure by Cohort ........................ 09 Section Three: Why Charter Schools Close .... 12 Section Four: The Process of Charter School Closures .......................................................................... 21 Section Five: Student Displacement ................ 24 Conclusion ................................................................... 26 Recommendations .................................................. 29 Appendix ...................................................................... 31 Endnotes ...................................................................... 33 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Special thanks to the following: Carol Burris, who led the development of the report and is its author. Burris is the lead researcher of the National Center for Charter School Accountability (NCCSA) and the Executive Director of the Network For Public Education. Education policy researcher Ryan Pfleger, Ph. D. analyzed the closure of charter schools using the Deparment of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD), which served as the basis for the findings in this report. NPE Communications Director Joanna Oszeyczik formatted all of the tables and graphics in the report, and is responsible for its layout and design. NPE’s Grassroots Network Coordinator Marla Kilfoyle assisted with research to determine the reasons charter schools close. Thankyou also to Leonie Haimson and Gary Rubenstein for their contributions to this report. This report would not have been possible without the effort and commitment of the Board of Directors of the Network for Public Education (NPE), with special thanks to Diane Ravitch, President of NPE. Diane generously gave her support, guidance and advice throughout the writing of this report. The National Center for Charter School Accountability provides research and recommendations on increasing transparency and accountability for charter schools. It is a project of the Network for Public Education, whose mission is to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen public schools for both current and future generations of students. Finally, thankyou to all of our generous donors who make our work in support of public education possible. No outside organization contributed to, reviewed or influenced the findings of this report. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Parents seek a caring, consistent, and dependable learning environment for their children in an increasingly unstable world. At the same time, they are being lured from their neighborhood public school by school choice. With a carefully crafted marketing campaign, a new charter school offers something different, promising something better than the neighborhood public school down the block. However, as hundreds of thousands of families have found, enrolling your child in a charter school comes with enormous risk. Charter schools close at far higher rates than public schools.1 And, unlike public school districts where infrequent closures are orderly with the district finding a new school for the child, charter school closures are often chaotic and abrupt, taking parents by surprise. As this report shows, that risk is far from negligible. While research studies of charter closure rates typically measure year-to-year closures, such studies provide little guidance to families seeking to understand the risk of enrolling their child in a charter school. The questions that parents ask are more practical. Will their kindergartener’s school still exist next year or when they are in grade five? Will their high school student’s school be offering diplomas come graduation year? Or will it be bo

FAQs

Why does the report say enrolling a child in a charter school involves high risk?

It argues charter schools close at far higher rates than traditional public schools and that closures are often chaotic and abrupt, surprising families midstream.

What data source does the report use to determine charter school closure rates?

It uses the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data (CCD) as the primary database for non-private elementary and secondary education.

How do closure rates change as charter schools reach longer time horizons?

The report shows increasing failure rates by cohort: about 16% around three years, 26% around five years, nearly 39% by year ten, and almost 50% by five years later, with additional cohorts evaluated through year twenty.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jordan Avery