The effect of academic outcomes, equity, and student demographics on parental preferences for schools: evidence from a survey experiment.

This article investigates how competition for school resources, alongside racial and socioeconomic biases, shapes parental preferences in school choice, contributing to persistent school segregation. Using a conjoint survey experiment with 1,807 U.S. parents, the study finds that parents prioritize learning opportunities and overall school achievement above other attributes, including equity rankings and school demographic composition. Despite a slight positive preference for equity, parents generally avoid schools with higher proportions of students of color and low-income students, with Black parents uniquely showing a preference for schools with more Black students. The findings suggest that both competition for educational resources and independent racial and socioeconomic biases jointly influence school selection, maintaining segregation even when high academic performance is present.