Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Writing in Middle and High School
Category: Student Learning
We analyze the large socioeconomic status (SES) gaps in public high school assignments in Mexico City, a centralized choice system with exam-based admissions. Using a rich structural model, decomposition, and simulations, we find that placement score differences explain 83% of the gap in assignment to elite schools, contrasted with preferences (6%) and location (5%). For less-preferred technical schools, preferences explain 64% of the gap, while score differences account for 34%. High-SES students have a substantial advantage on the placement test beyond what is predicted by multiple contemporaneous ability measures, raising concerns about the distributional impacts of exam-based admissions.
Keywords
school choice, inequality, high-stakes exams
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/qb4d-hv24
