Drivers of school choice: Primary school selection in a free choice context

Abstract

In Italy, parents are free to choose the primary school for their children without restrictions imposed by catchment areas. This freedom of choice, inspired by quasi-market mechanisms, aims to foster competition between schools and raise educational standards. Analysing the case of Milan using regression models and administrative data for the 2015–16 school year, we study the factors associated with the probability that parents choose a school different from the one closest to where they live. We focus on both push factors (the characteristics of local schools) and pull factors (the features of chosen schools). The findings indicate that parents select schools which have a lower proportion of immigrant pupils and higher socio-economic status of the student body. On the other hand, school performance in standardised tests is not statistically associated with parents' decisions to opt out of local schools, nor does it emerge as a feature of the schools most likely to attract non-local students after accounting for the socio-economic composition of school intake. The resulting picture shows that affluent Italian parents implement avoidance strategies to avoid schools attended by a high proportion of immigrant or lower-class students—with the potential of fostering segregation and concentrations of disadvantaged groups.