Economic Model Can Help Diversify U.S. Schools, Expert Says

The use of economic models to design flexible assignment policies can help school systems achieve racial and socioeconomic diversity while also keeping parents who prefer neighborhood schools happy, says a Duke University professor who researches the economics of education.

A key component is to incorporate parental preferences in school assignments "to the maximum extent possible," says Atila Abdulkadiroglu, a professor in Duke's Department of Economics.

A bitter fight over school choice in North Carolina grabbed national headlines in recent months. On March 23, the Wake County School Board by a 5-4 vote dropped its decades-old system of busing for racial and income diversity in favor of sending children to schools in their neighborhoods. Opponents of the change, including the NAACP, have vowed to fight it.

"A carefully designed assignment process can give parents greater access to their neighborhood schools while also achieving policy targets by efficiently assigning other students to the same schools," Abdulkadiroglu says. "The system can be made fully transparent and accountable, removing any cloud on the admissions process and any potential tension between parents and the district."

For example, since 2003 in the New York City School System, about 100,000 incoming high school students have been assigned to more than 700 schools through the use of an algorithm that Abdulkadiroglu and colleagues helped design. Since 2005, the Boston Public Schools system has used a similar method they designed to assign students to all grades; neighborhood students get a higher priority in assignment, but students from outside the neighborhood also get an opportunity to attend.

Abdulkadiroglu, whose research focuses on mechanism design, market design and economics of education, says the rancor and distrust in the Wake County situation can be lessened by adopting a choice system that uses reliable data to monitor demand patterns.

"The income-based assignment in Wake County and a community-based assignment that relies solely on proximity put severe restrictions on incorporating parental preferences in assignment.

"A carefully designed choice can give parents greater access to their neighborhood schools while maintaining diversity at schools.

"In addition, the assignment algorithm can be made flexible enough to incorporate potential policy changes in the future without sacrificing any of the positive benefits stated above," Abdulkadiroglu says, adding that the science of designing such an assignment algorithm is readily available.

Abdulkadiroglu's research involves a systematic study of various school choice models in the United States. For more information, view Abdulkadiroglu's website at http://econ.duke.edu/people?Gurl=%2Faas%2FEconomics&Uil=5342&subpage=profile.