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The Importance of Information Targeting for School Choice

Kehinde F. Ajayi¹; Willa H. Friedman²; Adrienne Lucas³

¹ Boston University, 270 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215 (e-mail: ) · ² University of Houston, 3623 Cullen Boulevard, Houston, TX 77204 (e-mail: ) · ³ University of Delaware, 419 Purnell Hall, Newark, DE 19716, and NBER (e-mail: )

Although school choice programs are common, we know little about the underlying decision-making processes. In this study, we randomly assigned 900 junior high schools in Ghana, a country with universal secondary school choice, to 1 of 3 treatment arms: (1) information to students, (2) information to students and guardians, and (3) control group. We observe changes in beliefs, behaviors, and the decision maker's identity through a survey of guardians. Our intervention increased the likelihood that guardians were involved with and informed about the school selection process. Moreover, specifically targeting guardians led to significantly larger changes for most outcomes.

DOI

10.1257/aer.p20171131

Volume

107 (5)

Pages

638-643

Language

en

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