School Choice in Chile: Looking at the Demand Side

How do parents choose among schools when they are allowed to do so? In this paper, we analyze detailed information of 70,000 fourth-graders attending about 1,200 publicly subsidized schools in the context of the Chilean voucher system. We model the school choice of a household as a discrete choice of a single school, based on the random utility model developed by McFadden (1974) and the specification of Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995), which includes choice-specific unobservable characteristics and deals with potential endogeneity. Our results imply that households value some attributes of schools, with the two most important dimensions being test scores and distance to school. Interestingly, at the same time, our results suggest there is a lot of heterogeneity in preferences because the valuation of most school attributes depend on household characteristics. In particular, we find that while proximity to school is an inferior attribute, test scores is a normal attribute. We present evidence that our results are mainly driven by self-selection and not by school-side selection. As a nal check, we compute the average enrollment elasticity with respect to all school attributes and find that higher elasticities are correlated with higher supply of the attribute, especially in the case of test scores-enrollment elasticities for private schools.School choice, Chile, vouchers, structural estimates, parental preferences

Charter schools : why states and communities select them, and their effect on educational outcomes

This dissertation investigates the issue of school choice in education, and its effectiveness in improving student outcomes. Specifically, this dissertation studies charter schools, and analyzes the charter school concept in three ways. First, the state choice to pass charter legislation is analyzed. Second, the regional choice to enact a charter school is studied. Third, the effect of charter schools on educational outcomes is analyzed.A theoretical model is developed which determines the factors that affect the charter school choice at the state and regional level. An educational production function is used to model the effect of a charter school on educational outcomes.Data are gathered from national and state educational agencies. Binary choice models are utilized for analyzing the state and regional choice. Self-selection is tested for in the outcome model to see if communities have self-selected charter schools.Both the state and regional choice models show that there are statistically significant factors which influence the charter school choice. However, when tested for self-selection is not statistically significant. Charter schools are found to have a positive relationship with the district high school dropout rate in the full sample, and a negative relationship with test scores in two states. These results apply only to charter highschools and represent the initial period of the charter movement only. These results caution policymakers in the use of charter schools to improve educational outcomes

Coursework selection: A frame of reference approach using structural equation modelling

Background. Choice behaviour has far-reaching consequences on students’ educational careers. Previous models on course selection -- like the model of achievement-related choices (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) and self-efficacy-theory (Bandura, 1997) -- stress the importance of ability-perceptions (self-concept of ability) as a major determinant of choice. Aim. The article suggests a model of course selection, which assumes, that comparisons within an internal frame of reference (which were proposed by Marsh, 1986, for the association between achievement and self-concepts) also can be applied on the association between self-concepts and course selection. Therefore it is hypothesised that course selection is not only positively influenced by the self-concept with respect to the corresponding subject but also negatively by the self-concept with respect to alternative subjects. Moreover it should be tested, if the effects of previous achievement on course selection are completely mediated by the self-concepts. Sample. The assumptions were empirically tested using a sample of 296 students from secondary school classes who could specialize for example in Chemistry or Biology in the next term. Method. Self-concepts and course selection were assessed via questionnaire. The postulated models were tested using a structural equation modelling approach for ordinal variables. Results. The core assumption, that course selection is determined by dimensional comparisons was supported by significant negative paths from self-concepts on the selection of non-corresponding subjects. Moreover, the effects of previous achievement on selection were completely mediated by self-concepts. Conclusion. Previous models of choice behaviour should be extended, by considering not only the selected alternatives but also the unselected ones. The finding that the influence of achievement on choice is completely mediated by self-concepts demonstrates, that subjective interpretations of previous achievement influence subsequent behaviour

Private school choice and the returns to private schooling

This paper analyzes the magnitude of earnings differentials and differences in the rates of return to education for individuals who attended private and public high schools in the U.S. from 1976 to 1983, controlling for self-selection into school sector, as well as observed differences in family background, ability, and characteristics of the high school attended. I develop a model of school choice, educational attainment and earnings determination that allows both the returns to observable characteristics and potential selection biases to vary across private and public school attendees. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and dat on private high school affiliations and tuition and fees at the county level, I estimate an endogenous switching regressions model of school choice and wage determination in which years of schooling is endogenous. I find that private school students enjoy significantly higher rates of return to education at all levels

Mobility and the Return to Education: Testing a Roy Model with Multiple Markets

Self-selected migration presents one potential explanation for why observed returns to a college education in local labor markets vary widely even though U.S. workers are highly mobile. To assess the impact of self-selection on estimated returns, this paper first develops a Roy model of mobility and earnings where workers choose in which of the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) to live and work. Available estimation methods are either infeasible for a selection model with so many alternatives or place potentially severe restrictions on earnings and the selection process. This paper develops an alternative econometric methodology which combines Lee's (1983) parametric maximum order statistic approach to reduce the dimensionality of the error terms with more recent work on semiparametric estimation of selection models (e.g., Ahn and Powell, 1993). The resulting semiparametric correction is easy to implement and can be adapted to a variety of other polychotomous choice problems. The empirical work, which uses 1990 U.S. Census data, confirms the role of comparative advantage in mobility decisions. The results suggest that self-selection of higher educated individuals to states with higher returns to education generally leads to upward biases in OLS estimates of the returns to education in state-specific labor markets. While the estimated returns to a college education are significantly biased, correcting for the bias does not narrow the range of returns across states. Consistent with the finding that the corrected return to a college education differs across the U.S., the relative state-to-state migration flows of college- versus high school-educated individuals respond strongly to differences in the return to education and amenities across states.Selection Bias, Polychotomous Choice, Roy Model, Return to Education, Migration

Dropping the books and working off the books

irregular employment, underground economy, dual informal sector, occupational choice, education, school drop-out, North and South divide Abstract: The paper empirically tests the relationship between underground labour and schooling achievement for Italy, a country ranking badly in both respects when compared to other high-income economies, with a marked duality between North and South. In order to identify underground workers, we exploit the information on individualsÂ’ social security positions available from the Bank of ItalyÂ’s Survey on Household Income and Wealth. After controlling for a wide range of socio-demographic and economic variables and addressing potential endogeneity and selection issues, we show that a low level of education sizeably and significantly increases the probability of working underground. Switching from completing compulsory school to graduating at college more than halves this probability for both men and women. The gain is slightly higher for individuals completing the compulsory track with respect to those having no formal education at all. The different probabilities found for self-employed and dependent workers support the view of a dual informal sector, in which necessity and desirability coexist.

Specialty selection satisfaction and regret among medical school postgraduates and faculty at King Abdulaziz University

Background: In the field of medicine, specialty selection is a life-altering decision that plays a crucial role in career satisfaction, and in turn patient-care. This study explores the significant factors affecting specialty selection satisfaction and regret from the perspective of medical postgraduates and faculty in King Abdulaziz University (KAU).  Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out on a sample of 172 medical school postgraduates and faculty working at KAU using self-administered questionnaire.Results: The majority of the participants were residents (51.7%), The analysis showed that 11% of the participants regret their choice of specialty. The results showed that the level of satisfaction increases as the academic degree of the participants increase. Among the significant factors affected specialty selection satisfaction and regret were; income (P = 0.003), long length of training (P = 0.027), vast options of sub-specialties (P = 0.001) and interesting and exciting field.Conclusion: These results identify the essential factors that have a potential impact on specialty satisfaction and regret among medical school postgraduates and faculty. This highlights the importance of career counseling for the proper specialty selection

Test Scores and Self-Selection of Higher Education: College Attendance versus College Completion

As a companion paper to our work on students' application and colleges' admission decisions, we have estimated a joint discrete-continuous utility maximization model of college attendance and college completion. The paper is motivated by the possibility that test scores are poor predictors of who will succeed in college and thus may not promote optimal investment decisions and may indeed unjustly limit the educational opportunities of some youth. We find that: (1) College attendance decisions are strongly commensurate with college completion. Persons who are unlikely to attend college would be very likely to drop out of even their "first-choice" colleges, were they to attend. College human capital investment decisions are strongly mirrored by the likelihood that they will pay off. (2) Contrary to much of the recent criticism of the predictive validity of test scores, we find that their informational content is substantial. After controlling for high school class rank, for example, the probability of dropping out of the first-choice college varies greatly with SAT scores. (3) Individual self-selection, related to both measured and unmeasured attributes, is the dominant determinant of college attendance.

Parental School Choices in Market-Oriented School Systems: Why Middle Class Immigrants Self-Select into Specialized Academic Programs

abstract: This study addresses racial segregation in schools by examining the self-selecting patterns of middle class Asian immigrant parents in a public non-charter school district who enrolled their children in specialized academic programs. This phenomenological study focused on the educational history and the decision-making process of school choice in a sample of 11 Chinese and Vietnamese immigrant parents; a majority of them were identified as Chinese mothers. This study was conducted to answer the research questions: (R1) How do the parents' past experiences play a role in their perception of specialized academic programs and the decision-making process of selecting a school? (R2) What kind of informational networks or sources are used to make school choice? (R3) What are parents' notions of academic achievement or success for their children? (R4) How do parents' perceive specialized programs after engaging in them? This study sought to understand the relationship between the parents' own educational experiences and their negotiation of school choice for their children by collecting data through interviews, focus groups, and artifact documents. This study found that (1) the competitive conditions of the parents' educational experiences attributed to their sociocultural belief of education as social mobility which was a significant factor in their selection of an advanced program and expectations of high academic achievement; (2) mothers identified school reviews from friends as the most important information they obtained when they made school choice; these reviews took place in their coethnic social networks in Chinese language schools that offered their children heritage language development, academic, and nonacademic-based extracurricular classes; and (3) parents indicated that school choice is a continuous evaluative and comparative process. Overall, the study highlights the participants' bimodal acquisition of school advantages for their children in market-oriented school systems and the roles parents play in establishing cultural norms in making school choice. In return, these norms have depicted the participants in the model minority role, which leads to the perpetuation of the racist stereotype of all Asians as high achievers. This study has presented a multi-layered perspective of how middle class Chinese and Vietnamese American immigrant parents capitalize on specialized academic programs.Dissertation/ThesisEd.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 201

Evaluating School Vouchers: Evidence from a Within-Study Comparison

Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) are the “gold-standard” for estimating causal impacts of educational programs. Students subject to lotteries, however, often are not representative of the broader population of students experiencing the educational treatment. With few exceptions, researchers are not able to determine how much selection bias exists when various quasi-experimental approaches are used in place of experimental ones within a school choice context. We are left wondering about the magnitude of the internal-for-external validity tradeoff that education researchers often face. This study assesses the extent to which methods such as propensity score matching or observational models with control variables can replicate the “benchmark” experimental results of the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship (DC OSP) school voucher evaluation. The federal private school voucher program is an exemplar subject for study because self-selection is assumed to be a major influence on whether or not a low-income urban student attends a private school. We treat Instrumental Variables Analysis (IV) estimates of the impact of private schooling on student outcomes, some of which are being presented for the first time in this study, as the causal “benchmark” estimate. While our data are fairly limited, and the results relatively imprecise, we find preliminary evidence that covariate choice matters, and that method choice matters, but perhaps only when comparing to a broader sample that includes students who did not apply to the program. Interestingly, we find that the direction of the estimation bias that we detect from some of the quasi-experimental approaches is positive when the sample is limited to program applicants, but negative when it is expanded to include non-applicants. This finding suggests that the applicants to means-tested school voucher programs are negatively selected, but the subgroup of applicants who actually use a voucher if offered tend to be positively selected