Beyond Graduation: What Early Data Says About Washington’s Charter Public Schools
Born from parent demand and built with flexibility, charter public schools were designed to do what families asked for — offer rigorous academics, strong relationships and clear pathways to adulthood.
These unique public schools that operate independent of the school district are some of the highest performing public schools in Washington state in terms of test scores, graduation rates, serving high needs populations — and, now, maybe in life outcomes as well.
A new report released by Agency, Inc., Turning the Tassel in Washington State: Outcomes for Public Charter School Graduates from 2019-2025, examines life outcomes of young adults who graduated from public high schools — charter and district-run — between 2019 and 2025. It is informed by a national survey of 5,000 young adults, with an oversample of 400 recent graduates in Washington state, conducted by The Harris Poll. The survey asked about salaries, postsecondary education, homeownership and more for these recent alumni.
While charter public schools in Washington state are relatively new and there are a limited number of graduates, the results show trends worth paying attention to when it comes to life outcomes for young adults.
The first students graduated from a charter public school in Washington in 2019. For those who graduated between 2019 and 2025, life outcomes as measured by salary, employment, post-secondary enrollment training and enrollment, and homeownership are strong.
Among the findings in Washington state:
- Higher full-time employment for charter alumni than their district school peers (83%** vs. 62%)
- Higher annual salaries for charter alumni ($120,109** on average vs. $76,178 for district school graduates—a nearly $44,000 difference)
- Higher participation in postsecondary training and education for charter alumni than their peers (97%** charter graduates vs 86% district graduates).
- Higher homeownership among charter public school graduates (47%** vs. 18% for district school graduates).
These patterns are even more striking among survey respondents who self-identified as Black, Latino, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and Native American, the majority of students served by charter public schools. For these alumni, the salary gap is even wider ($132,611** for charter graduates vs. $69,714** for district graduates), full- or part-time employment is also significantly higher (96%** for charter alumni vs. 63% for district alumni) and enrollment is also slightly higher in postsecondary training or education (98%** vs. 90% district alumni).
These early findings point to compelling evidence that, when it comes to life outcomes for young people, charter public schools are making a difference.
We need to do more of what’s working in public education in Washington state and that includes charter public schools. Let’s put all good options on the table and do more of what works in public education.
We need more.
Read the full report at AgencyWorks.org/Research.
Interested in more information about charter public schools? Visit LetsGrowWhatWorks.org.
**Because this is a base that falls between 99 and 50, data is considered “directional only” — meaning that the data can suggest the “direction” or the general pattern or trend, but it cannot be used to measure the exact magnitude of that pattern, due to the size of the sample.