Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments

Justine Hastings and Jeffrey M. Weinstein

No 13623, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We analyze two experiments that provided direct information on school test scores to lower-income families in a public school choice plan. We find that receiving information significantly increases the fraction of parents choosing higher-performing schools. Parents with high-scoring alternatives nearby were more likely to choose non-guaranteed schools with higher test scores. Using random variation from each experiment, we find evidence that attending a higher-scoring school increases student test scores. The results imply that school choice will most effectively increase academic achievement for disadvantaged students when parents have easy access to test score information and have good options to choose from.

JEL-codes: D83 H0 I2 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-exp and nep-hrm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published as Justine S. Hastings & Jeffrey M. Weinstein, 2008. "Information, School Choice, and Academic Achievement: Evidence from Two Experiments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 123(4), pages 1373-1414, November.

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