Mariana Laverde Quintero: Racial Differences in School Choice Assignments: The Case of Boston

In this paper, I document that African-American students are less likely than whites to be assigned to
their first-choice school, even when comparing students that face the same choice-menu and walk zone
priorities. Using rich micro-data on applications and assignments from Boston Public Schools’ prekindergarten
applicants I estimate the contribution of preference heterogeneity in explaining the gap, by
estimating racial-specific preference parameters and running counterfactual assignments. Moreover,
these exercises will be useful to answer: (1) are black students being assigned to schools with a lower
value-added or average attainment, as a consequence of the different assignment probabilities, (2) are
there changes to the institutional setup that equalize the probabilities of assignment and reduce the gap
in assigned school characteristics, and finally, (3) what is the welfare impact associated with these
policies, for groups of students and the student body overall.


 

Mariana Laverde Quintero
The Harris School of Public Policy