A study by Harris and Larsen (2015) examined decision making by New Orleans parents selecting schools for their children. In New Orleans, all parents sending their children to public schools are required to rank schools in order of preference as a part of a centralized matching system. The researchers found that while academic quality is important in parental choice, just as important in decision making is the distance of the school from the family home. Parents were willing to sacrifice an entire school “letter grade” (the measure of school quality in New Orleans) in order to have their child attend a school threequarters of a mile closer to home. In other words, they would prefer their child to attend a C– school across the street instead of a B– school less than a mile away. The importance of logistics relative to academic performance was highest for poor families.

How might these findings inform the policy debate over school choice, especially the debate over vouchers and charter schools?