A New National School Assignment System Meant to Strengthen School Choice in Chile: Reducing Inequality by Improving Access and Integration?

• In Event: 34.095 - MTCC Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 34.095-7 - International Perspectives on School Choice and Market Reform

Abstract

Chile is phasing in a drastic centralization reform to the student admission system requiring schools to accept all applicants and use lottery assignment for oversubscription. This paper examines trends regarding stratification using differences in differences analysis to test the effect of the policy change on access and segregation. We find an increase in access to schools that had selective admissions policies and a decrease in the odds of attending a school with extreme isolation with 90% or more low income students, however there was an increase in the odds of attending an extremely isolated school with less than 10% low income students, and no significant effect on the odds of attending an oversubscribed or high achieving school.

Authors

• Ngaire Noelle Honey, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile

• Alejandro Carrasco, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile