选择与后果：评估芝加哥考试选拔学校中的错配

中文摘要

教育错配假说认为，平权行动政策将学生安置到他们原本不具备入学资格的选拔性学校，这会对学生造成伤害。我们评估了芝加哥选拔性公立考试选拔学校中的错配问题；这些学校在录取学生时，除考试成绩外，还采用基于社区的多样性标准。针对受平权行动优待的申请者，断点回归估计确实表明，就读考试选拔学校未能提高阅读成绩，且对数学成绩和四年制大学入学产生了负面影响。然而，无论学校选拔性高低，也无论申请者更可能还是更不可能从平权行动中受益，结果均较为相似，这一模式与错配假说不一致。我们表明，芝加哥考试选拔学校的效应在很大程度上取决于申请者在未获考试选拔学校席位时所就读的学校。具体而言，所谓的错配可由以下事实解释：考试选拔学校的录取使许多申请者未能进入学业表现优异的 Noble Network 特许学校，而他们原本会在这些学校取得良好表现。与这些发现一致，在另一个大型城市学区中，对于来自高质量特许学校的申请者，考试选拔学校同样降低了他们的数学成绩。考试选拔学校申请者先前的学业成绩、种族以及其他有时被认为会影响学生与学校匹配的人口统计特征，在这一解释中均不起作用。

Abstract

The educational mismatch hypothesis asserts that students are hurt by affirmative action policies placing them in selective schools for which they wouldn’t otherwise qualify. We evaluate mismatch in Chicago’s selective public exam schools, which admit students using neighborhood-based diversity criteria as well as test scores. Regression discontinuity estimates for applicants favored by affirmative action indeed show no gains in reading and negative effects of exam school attendance on math scores and four-year college enrollment. But these results are similar for more- and less-selective schools and for applicants more and less likely to benefit from affirmative action, a pattern inconsistent with mismatch. We show that Chicago exam school effects are determined largely by the schools attended when not offered an exam school seat. In particular, apparent mismatch is explained by the fact that exam school admission diverts many applicants from high-performing Noble Network charter schools, where they would have done well. Consistent with these findings, exam schools reduce math scores for applicants applying from high-quality charter schools in another large urban district. Exam school applicants’ previous achievement, race, and other demographic characteristics that are sometimes said to mediate student-school matching play no role in this story.