(American Economic Association, 2014) Deming, David; Hastings, Justine S.; Kane, Thomas; Staiger, Douglas O.
We study the impact of a public school choice lottery in Charlotte-
Mecklenburg schools on college enrollment and degree completion.
We find a significant overall increase in college attainment among
lottery winners who attend their first-choice school. Using rich
administrative data on peers, teachers, course offerings, and other
inputs, we show that the impacts of choice are strongly predicted by
gains on several measures of school quality. Gains in attainment are
concentrated among girls. Girls respond to attending a better school
with higher grades and increases in college-preparatory course
taking, while boys do not.
