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What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of School Output

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  • Diether Beuermann
  • C. Kirabo Jackson
  • Laia Navarro-Sola
  • Francisco Pardo
Abstract
To explore whether schools’ causal impacts on test scores measure their overall impact on students, we exploit plausibly exogenous school assignments and data from Trinidad and Tobago to estimate the causal impacts of individual schools on several outcomes. Schools’ impacts on high-stakes tests are weakly related to impacts on important outcomes such as arrests, dropout, teen motherhood, and formal labor-market participation. To examine if parents’ school preferences are related to these causal impacts, we link them to parents’ ranked lists of schools and employ discrete-choice models to infer preferences for schools. Parents choose schools that improve high-stakes tests even conditional on peer quality and average outcomes. Parents also choose schools that reduce criminality and teen motherhood, and increase labor market participation. School choices among parents of low-achieving students are relatively more strongly related to schools’ impacts on non-test-score outcomes, while the opposite is true for parents of high-achieving students. These results suggest that evaluations based solely on test scores may be misleading about the benefits of school choice (particularity for low-achieving students), and education interventions more broadly.

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  • Diether Beuermann & C. Kirabo Jackson & Laia Navarro-Sola & Francisco Pardo, 2018. "What is a Good School, and Can Parents Tell? Evidence on the Multidimensionality of School Output," NBER Working Papers 25342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25342
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    Cited by:

    1. C. Kirabo Jackson & Shanette C. Porter & John Q. Easton & Alyssa Blanchard & Sebastián Kiguel, 2020. "School Effects on Socioemotional Development, School-Based Arrests, and Educational Attainment," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 491-508, December.
    2. Eduardo Duque & Juan S. Pereyra & Juan Pablo Torres-Mart'inez, 2024. "Local non-bossiness and preferences over colleagues," Papers 2406.01398, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2024.
    3. Tobin, Zachary, 2024. "How do public schools respond to competition? Evidence from a charter school expansion," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Elacqua, Gregory & Figueroa, Nicolas & Fontaine, Andrés & Margitic, Juan Francisco & Méndez, Carolina, 2023. "Exodus to Public School: Parent Preferences for Public Schools in Peru," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13353, Inter-American Development Bank.
    5. Randi Hjalmarsson & Stephen Machin & Paolo Pinotti, 2024. "Crime and the labor market," CEP Discussion Papers dp2044, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Borger, Michael & Elacqua, Gregory & Jacas, Isabel & Neilson, Christopher & Olsen, Anne Sofie Westh, 2024. "Report cards: Parental preferences, information and school choice in Haiti," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Stephen Machin & Matteo Sandi & Steve Machin, 2024. "Crime and Education," CESifo Working Paper Series 11450, CESifo.
    8. Elisa Facchetti & Lorenzo Neri & Marco Ovidi, 2021. "Should you Meet The Parents? The impact of information on non-test score attributes on school choice," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def113, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    9. Beuermann, Diether W. & Bottan, Nicolas L. & Hoffmann, Bridget & Jackson, C. Kirabo & Vera-Cossio, Diego, 2024. "Does education prevent job loss during downturns? Evidence from exogenous school assignments and COVID-19 in Barbados," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Derek Neal & Joseph Root, 2024. "The Provision of Information and Incentives in School Assignment Mechanisms," NBER Chapters, in: New Directions in Market Design, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Beuermann, Diether & Ramos Bonilla, Andrea & Stampini, Marco, 2024. "Can Conditional Cash Transfers Alter the Effectiveness of Other Human Capital Development Policies?," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13484, Inter-American Development Bank.
    12. Elacqua, Gregory & Kutscher, Macarena, 2023. "Navigating Centralized Admissions: The Role of Parental Preferences in School Segregation in Chile," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 13340, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Ellen Greaves & Iftikhar Hussain & Birgitta Rabe & Imran Rasul, 2023. "Parental Responses to Information about School Quality: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(654), pages 2334-2402.
    14. Martinez de Lafuente, David, 2021. "Cultural Assimilation and Ethnic Discrimination: An Audit Study with Schools," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Ketel, Nadine & Oosterbeek, Hessel & Sovago, Sandor & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2023. "The (Un)Importance of School Assignment," IZA Discussion Papers 16591, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Robert Ainsworth & Rajeev Dehejia & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Miguel Urquiola, 2023. "Why Do Households Leave School Value Added on the Table? The Roles of Information and Preferences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(4), pages 1049-1082, April.
    17. Lukas Kiessling & Jonathan Norris, 2020. "The long-run effects of peers on mental health," Working Papers 2006, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    18. Robert Ainsworth & Rajeev Dehejia & Cristian Pop-Eleches & Miguel Urquiola, 2020. "Information, Preferences, and Household Demand for School Value Added," NBER Working Papers 28267, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Doris, Aedin & O'Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2019. "Good Schools or Good Students? The Importance of Selectivity for School Rankings," IZA Discussion Papers 12459, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Edwards, Ashley & Ortagus, Justin & Smith, Jonathan & Smythe, Andria, 2023. "HBCU Enrollment and Longer-Term Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 16632, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Jiafeng Chen, 2021. "Nonparametric Treatment Effect Identification in School Choice," Papers 2112.03872, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2023.

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    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J38 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Public Policy

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