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Schneider et al. (2000) found that preferences for academic dimensions were even stronger
among low-income families and racial minorities.
Survey data in Chile also show that, across the board, stated preferences for academic
aspects of schools are strong. The Centro de Estudios Publicos (1997) report that when asked
about the dimensions families value most when choosing a school, over 50% of parents surveyed
cited academic quality. This finding conforms with the more recent survey data reported by the
Ministry of Education (2003, 2002) in which academic aspects were the second most cited
preference by parents when choosing a school, after location. These surveys find little difference
by education level in the preferences of parents, with the exception of location, which is cited
more by parents with less than a high school education. Moreover, one of the least important
concerns for parents in both surveys was that their children attend schools with students who are
predominantly of the same social class. This is consistent with survey evidence in the United
States (Weiher and Tedin, 2002; Schneider et al., 2000; Orfield, 1995).
These patterns are also found in the responses of the parents we surveyed in the
Metropolitan Region of Santiago (R.M.), Chile. In the spring of 2004, we conducted face-to-
face interviews with a sample of first grade parents in the R.M. to explore the effects of school
choice on parental behavior. We chose first grade parents because this is the point at which all
parents must make a choice about which school to enroll their child. Therefore, it is the point at
which the incentives to gather information about the schools is at the highest and is a critical
point around which the entire system of choice hinges.
We constructed the sample frame by first stratifying schools by size, socioeconomic
status, and school type (public, private voucher, private non-voucher). Then, blocks within the
schools were selected and finally first grade parents within the schools were randomly selected
Convention