Are High-Quality Schools Enough to Increase Achievement Among the Poor? Evidence from the Harlem Children's Zone
Abstract
Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), an ambitious social experiment, combines community programs with charter schools. We provide the first empirical test of the causal impact of HCZ charters on educational outcomes. Both lottery and instrumental variable identification strategies suggest that the effects of attending an HCZ middle school are enough to close the black-white achievement gap in mathematics. The effects in elementary school are large enough to close the racial achievement gap in both mathematics and ELA. We conclude with evidence that suggests high-quality schools are enough to significantly increase academic achievement among the poor. Community programs appear neither necessary nor sufficient. (JEL H75, I21, I28, J13, R23)
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This concentration of effects in math is consistent with a broader literature in the economics of education finding that interventions often generate larger or more detectable impacts in math than in ELA.
“This concentration of effects in math is consistent with a broader literature in the economics of education finding that interventions often generate larger or more detectable impacts in math than in ELA (e.g., Dee and Jacob, 2011; Dobbie and Fryer Jr, 2011; Chetty, Friedman and Rockoff, 2014).”
From The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches (2026) · cites this paper as Dobbie and Fryer Jr, 2011
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Self-citationThe Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches
Allcott, H., Baron, E. J., Dee, T., Duckworth, A., Gentzkow, M., & Jacob, B. (2026) · National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper · doi:10.3386/w35132 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dobbie, W., & Fryer, R. G.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- National Bureau of Economic Research (US)
- ORCID
- Fryer, Roland G
- Venue
- American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
- Publisher
- American Economic Association
- Published
- 2011-07-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 158-187
- ISSN
- 1945-7782 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-7790
- OpenAlex
- W1998191912
- Cited by
- 536
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 43 · 2017: 48 · 2016: 66 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 37 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 178.50
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Economic Journal Applied Economics (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Education › Parental Involvement in Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Keywords
- charter schools, educational attainment, racial achievement gap, Black-White achievement gap, low-income students, community-based programs, junior high school, elementary school, mathematics achievement, English language arts, school quality, social experiment
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