Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

We report the results of an experiment designed to help low-income students in NYC navigate a complex high school choice process and enroll in higher-performing schools. Treatment schools received a simple customized list of high schools with information about graduation rates, travel time, and admissions requirements. Subsets received a supplemental list of academically non-selective schools or a school list organized by academic focus area. The former were invited to receive text message reminders about open houses that give priority admission status to students who attend. Students in treatment schools were significantly more likely to apply to high schools on our customized lists than those in the control group. While there was no effect on the average graduation rate of school choices, students receiving the simplified list matched to schools with a 1.7 percentage point higher graduation rate, an effect size of 0.13 standard deviations. This appears to be driven by a shift in applications toward schools where the odds of admission were higher. The interventions reduced variability in the quality of choices, and treatment students were less likely to apply and be matched to low graduation rate schools. Subgroup analyses finds the largest effects for students who do not speak English at home, a large share our study sample.