Who Participates in School Choice? Evidence From Five School Choice Programs in Pennsylvania

• In Event: Choosing Schools in Market-Based Systems

Abstract

By allowing historically marginalized students to choose better schools, school choice has long been touted as a remedy to educational inequity. Using detailed administrative data on high school students across the state of Pennsylvania, we explore how student characteristics differ across five forms of public school choice and what factors predict exit from zoned schools to choice schools. We find that large differences based on students’ race/ethnicity and program participation largely disappear when we account for geography by comparing students to others in their residence district or catchment area. That historically marginalized students are either no more likely, or, in some instances, less likely to participate in choice, suggests that school choice may not be closing educational opportunity gaps.

Authors

• Sarah A. Cordes, Temple University

• Sophia Seifert, Temple University