Open Enrolment and Student Achievement

50 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2013

See all articles by Jane Friesen

Jane Friesen

Simon Fraser University

Benjamin Cerf

Government of the United States of America - Bureau of the Census

Simon D. Woodcock

Simon Fraser University; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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Abstract

We investigate the effects of public school open enrolment, which allows students to enroll in any public school with available space, on fourth grade test scores. We find a small, positive effect on the average student; this benefit appears to stem from increased competition among schools, rather than directly through expanded choice opportunities. Among students whose catchment school is locally top-ranked according to test scores, greater choice is of no direct benefit; however, students whose catchment school is locally lowest-ranked earn higher scores when they have access to better local schools. Students in both groups benefit from increased school competition.

Keywords: open enrolment, school choice, school competition

JEL Classification: I21, I28

Suggested Citation

Friesen, Jane and Cerf, Benjamin and Woodcock, Simon D., Open Enrolment and Student Achievement. IZA Discussion Paper No. 7642, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2342494 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2342494

Jane Friesen (Contact Author)

Simon Fraser University ( email )

8888 University Drive
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Benjamin Cerf

Government of the United States of America - Bureau of the Census ( email )

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Washington, DC 20233-9100
United States

Simon D. Woodcock

Simon Fraser University ( email )

Dept. of Economics
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Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://www.sfu.ca/~swoodcoc

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

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Germany

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