This is a WSJ "Saturday Essay."

It is descriptive, a case study (of two cases).

There is no way of assessing what significantly differing factors (besides their high schools) were unmentioned/unknown yet influencial for these two teens.

It establishes no causation.

Only value of article is to demonstrate some of the strategies/opportunities that a charter school _may be_ at liberty to exploit. Oh, how severely education suffers from lack of capable research.