Navigating Centralized Admissions: The Role of Parental Preferences in School Segregation in Chile

Gregory Elacqua and Macarena Kutscher

No 13340, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: In this paper, we aim to understand some of the mechanisms behind the low impact of a Chilean educational reform on socioeconomic integration within the school system. We focus on pre-kindergarden (pre-K) admissions, which account for the highest volume of applications since all students (except those applying to private schools) must seek admission through the centralized system. We employ a discrete choice model to analyze parents school preferences. Our analysis reveals that the school choices of low-SES families are more strongly influenced by a schools non-academic attributes which are often omitted from analyses of parental preferences due to data availability constraints rather than academic quality. For instance, low-SES parents tend to prefer schools with fewer reported violent incidents, schools where students report facing less discrimination and exclusion, and schools where students demonstrate higher levels of self-efficacy. Disadvantaged families also tend to favor schools that have a religious affiliation, offer more ”classical” sports (e.g. soccer), or have a foreign name. These results have significant implications for understanding the preferences of disadvantaged families and the impact of centralized admission systems on reducing segregation. By recognizing the non-academic factors driving school choices, policymakers can better design admission systems that truly foster school diversity and equality.

Keywords: school choice; Centralized Assignment Systems; Segregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A20 D12 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des, nep-edu and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:13340

DOI: 10.18235/0005484

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