We examine the effects of disseminating academic performance data—either status, growth, or both—on parents’ school choices and their implications for racial, ethnic, and economic segregation. We conduct an online survey experiment featuring a nationally representative sample of parents and caretakers of children age 0-12. Participants choose between three randomly sampled elementary schools drawn from the same school district. Only growth information—alone and not in concert with status information—has clear and consistent desegregating consequences. Because states that include growth in their school accountability systems have generally done so as a supplement to and not a replacement for status, there is little reason to expect that this development will influence choice behavior in a manner that meaningfully reduces school segregation.
The ‘Good’ Schools: Academic Performance Data, School Choice, and Segregation
Keywords
growth, status, school choice, segregation, desegregation
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/7n5s-km15
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Houston, David M., and Jeffrey R. Henig. (). The ‘Good’ Schools: Academic Performance Data, School Choice, and Segregation. (EdWorkingPaper:
-491). Retrieved from
Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/7n5s-km15Related Resources from the EdExchange
A library of instruments for education research and school improvement
A new model for informed decision-making in education