One important consequence of school choice policies is the shift away from governmental accountability and toward parent accountability. Parents are empowered to gather information about schools and select schools that meet their needs. Schools that fulfill parents’ needs succeed; others fail. Using data on several types of choice programs in a large urban school district, the authors examine the amount of information parents have and whether they select schools based on the factors they believe are important. The evidence suggests that many parents neither possess adequate information nor send consistent signals, and there are systemic differences across types of choice programs.
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