Description:

Presenter: Genia Rachkovski

Title: Going Beyond Test Scores: Does Public Information about School Satisfaction and Violence Levels Affect Parental School Choice?

Abstract: A 2012 Supreme Court ruling ordered the Ministry of Education in Israel to make school level test score information public, as well as publicizing a set of non academic school attribute survey information. This setting provides a natural and exogenous context to examine the effects of this information on student school choice. Using both an event study and a difference in difference analysis, I find that, in regions where parents had more than one school option, the share of parents sending their kids to `better’ schools has increased following the information reveal. This effect is mostly driven by violence and school satisfaction ratings, rather than test scores.  Finally, heterogeneity by parental education and the implications on socio economic integration are discussed.