Optimizing for Distributional Goals in School Choice Problems

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (8) ◽  
pp. 3657-3676
Author(s):  
Aaron L. Bodoh-Creed
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Incentive Compatibility ◽  
Neighborhood Schools ◽  
Boston Public Schools ◽  
Incentive Compatible ◽  
The Status ◽  
Student Welfare

I investigate three goals of school choice: welfare, encouraging neighborhood schools, and diversity. I use optimization problems to find the best stable and incentive compatible match for any combination of these objectives. These problems assume there is a continuum of students and school seats, which allows me to describe the incentive compatibility conditions in a tractable form. I prove that the set of stable matchings is generically continuous in the distribution of students and the school capacities, which implies that the characterization of the possible stable matches in the continuum model approximates the set of stable matches in a matching market with a large, but finite, number of students. I then apply my framework to data from Boston Public Schools. If the mechanism conditions on demographics, the improvement (relative to the status quo) in student welfare is equivalent to moving 291 students (out of 3,479) to schools one rank higher in their preference lists. In contrast, if the mechanism does not condition on demographics, the welfare improvement is equivalent to moving only 25.1 students to schools one rank higher. Improvements in the distributional goals can be made (e.g., increasing enrollment in neighborhood schools by 50%) without reducing welfare or diversity. This paper was accepted by Gabriel Weintraub, revenue management and market analytics.

The Racial Composition of Neighborhoods and Local Schools: The Role of Diversity, Inequality, and School Choice

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 675-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kendra Bischoff ◽  
Laura Tach
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
School Attendance ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Racial Composition ◽  
Neighborhood Schools ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Opt Out ◽  
The Social

In an education system that draws students from residentially based attendance zones, schools are local institutions that reflect the racial composition of their surrounding communities. However, with opportunities to opt out of the zoned public school system, the social and economic contexts of neighborhoods may affect the demographic link between neighborhoods and their public neighborhood schools. Using spatial data on school attendance zones, we estimate the associations between the racial composition of elementary schools and their local neighborhoods, and we investigate how neighborhood factors shape the loose or tight demographic coupling of these parallel social contexts. The results show that greater social distance among residents within neighborhoods, as well as the availability of educational exit options, results in neighborhood public schools that are less reflective of their surrounding communities. In addition, we show that suburban schools are more demographically similar to their neighborhood attendance zones than are urban schools.

Who Favors Magnets and Who Favors Charters? Political Ideology, Social Purpose Politics, and School Choice in the Upper South

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422110332
Author(s):  
Virginia Riel ◽  
Roslyn Arlin Mickelson ◽  
Stephen Samuel Smith
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Neighborhood Schools ◽  
Upper South

School choice is an increasingly important feature of the US educational landscape. Numerous studies examine whether a particular form of school choice promotes student achievement or whether a type of school choice discourages or encourages diversity by race, ethnicity, and ability. Studies also examine attitudes toward school choice, but these studies are typically limited to the views of parents, teachers, and administrators rather than public attitudes. We contribute to this literature by studying public opinion about magnet and charter schools in five southern school districts. Using a new and unique dataset, we examine if social background characteristics, political ideology, and attitudes toward the role of public schooling, neighborhood schools, and school diversity influence citizen opinion regarding magnets and charters. We find that more educated, higher income, and older individuals do not support charters, while conservatives and Republicans do. Whites are less likely to favor magnets than other races, while the more educated are more likely to favor them. Those who believe public schools should operate for the common good support magnets, as do those who favor diverse schools. However, those who favor neighborhood schools support both charters and magnets. We interpret our findings within the context of case studies of the respective locations and suggest that public opinion studies motivate public policies regarding educational choice.

Bus Routing Optimization Helps Boston Public Schools Design Better Policies

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Dimitris Bertsimas ◽  
Arthur Delarue ◽  
William Eger ◽  
John Hanlon ◽  
Sebastien Martin
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Boston Public Schools ◽  
Bus Routing ◽  
Routing Optimization

HEALTH HAZARDS OF EXCESSIVE STUDY IN THE BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS (1854)

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-93
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Present System ◽  
Boston Public Schools ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Surgical Journal ◽  
Loss Of Appetite ◽  
Poor Children ◽  
Mental Exertion ◽  
Academic Demands ◽  
Do So

During the mid-nineteenth century American physicians were greatly troubled by what they thought were the evils of excessive academic demands placed on children in our public schools. The editorial below, published in 1854 in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, is typical of many of a similar nature. Our city prides itself on the superiority of its public schools; and we think Boston is justly entitled to take the highest rank among the cities of the civilized world for the facilities afforded by its citizens for the education of youth. But notwithstanding the large expenditure of money for the erection of beautiful and commodious school-houses, for mathematical and other instruments, for teachers, &c., all which give a character to our Boston schools, there exists an evil in the present system of educating, which seriously demands attention, and, if possible, a remedy. It is the ambition of the teachers of our schools, to have their scholars thoroughly instructed, and that they may appear well before the committees at examinations; and for that purpose, lessons in great numbers and requiring toilsome study, are imposed upon them. No discrimination is made, as regards the mental or physical capacity of the individual members of the class, but all are required to be perfect in their answers, or else they lose their position in the class and school. Not one fifth of the time devoted to school hours is allowed for study, being occupied in recitations; and the severe tasks the poor children have in getting their lessons must be apparent, when it is known that so long a time is required in reciting them. The scholars of the second class, for instance, have to commit to memory from twelve to twenty-five pages of geography, three to six pages of arithmetic, the same of grammar, three pages in spelling, besides exercises in reading, writing, &c. Now these lessons must be studied out of school, at the time which should be devoted to exercise and recreation. The imposition of such severe tasks upon the young and growing children, must enfeeble their constutions, and often incapacitates them, if they arrive at maturity, for enjoying life. We have seen many children who were ambitious to accomplish all that was required of them by teachers; and to do so, the greatest portion of the twenty-four hours was necessarily devoted to their books, scarcely allowing any time for taking their meals. It must be obvious to every one, that such close application to study, produces, in their turn, a train of diseases which cannot always be eradicated. Aching heads, loss of appetite, sleepless nights, inflamed eyes, with other deviations from health, are the accompaniments and the consequences of excessive mental exertion.

PERMISSION TO CONDUCT THE FIRST STUDY OF THE HEIGHTS AND WEIGHTS OF CHILDREN IN THE UNITED STATES

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-311
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Harvard Medical School ◽  
The United States ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
The Public ◽  
Boston Public Schools ◽  
School Committee ◽  
Boston School

The beginning of all growth studies in this country occurred less than a century ago when the Boston School Committee approved the following order permitting Henry Pickering Bowditch, Professor of Physiology at the Harvard Medical School, to measure and weigh children in the Boston public schools. This document is one of the great, and I believe little known, landmarks in modern pediatrics.1 In School Committee, March 9, 1875 Ordered, That permission be given to Prof. Henry P. Bowditch, of Harvard University, to ascertain the height and weight of the pupils attending the public school, through such an arrangement as the respective chairman and the headmaster, or masters, may deem most convenient.

The randomized communication complexity of revenue maximization

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Aviad Rubinstein ◽  
Junyao Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Lower Bounds ◽  
Communication Complexity ◽  
Social Choice Rule ◽  
Valuation Function ◽  
Optimal Auctions ◽  
Incentive Compatible ◽  
First Approximation ◽  
Exponential Separation ◽  
Open Question

We study the communication complexity of incentive compatible auction-protocols between a monopolist seller and a single buyer with a combinatorial valuation function over n items [Rubinstein and Zhao 2021]. Motivated by the fact that revenue-optimal auctions are randomized [Thanassoulis 2004; Manelli and Vincent 2010; Briest et al. 2010; Pavlov 2011; Hart and Reny 2015] (as well as by an open problem of Babaioff, Gonczarowski, and Nisan [Babaioff et al. 2017]), we focus on the randomized communication complexity of this problem (in contrast to most prior work on deterministic communication). We design simple, incentive compatible, and revenue-optimal auction-protocols whose expected communication complexity is much (in fact infinitely) more efficient than their deterministic counterparts. We also give nearly matching lower bounds on the expected communication complexity of approximately-revenue-optimal auctions. These results follow from a simple characterization of incentive compatible auction-protocols that allows us to prove lower bounds against randomized auction-protocols. In particular, our lower bounds give the first approximation-resistant, exponential separation between communication complexity of incentivizing vs implementing a Bayesian incentive compatible social choice rule, settling an open question of Fadel and Segal [Fadel and Segal 2009].

Pakistan’s Education Reform Test

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (825) ◽  
pp. 133-139
Author(s):  
Faisal Bari
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Compulsory Education ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
The Government ◽  
Provincial Autonomy

The Pakistani Constitution promises “free and compulsory” education for all, but 20 million children are not in school. Many who are enrolled receive poor-quality education: surveys show Pakistani students ranking among the lowest achievers in the world. This has led families in all but the lowest income groups to seek private alternatives for their children, weakening the constituency for improved public schools. Under Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government has pushed for a Single National Curriculum. Critics contend that it will not address lack of access or the poor quality of education, but that it could lead to restrictions on school choice, provincial autonomy, and linguistic diversity, while imposing a narrow vision of national identity.

scholarly journals Cracks in the Melting Pot: Immigration, School Choice, and Segregation

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 91-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth U Cascio ◽  
Ethan G Lewis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Melting Pot ◽  
School Demographics ◽  
Skilled Immigration ◽  
Households With Children

We examine whether low-skilled immigration to the United States has contributed to immigrants' residential isolation by reducing native demand for public schools. We address endogeneity in school demographics using established Mexican settlement patterns in California and use a comparison group to account for immigration's broader effects. We estimate that between 1970 and 2000, the average California school district lost more than 14 non-Hispanic households with children to other districts in its metropolitan area for every 10 additional households enrolling low-English Hispanics in its public schools. By disproportionately isolating children, the native reaction to immigration may have longer-run consequences than previously thought. (JEL H75, I21, J15, J24, J61, R23)

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