School Sector Mobility in an Urban School Choice Environment

Abstract

This article uses the frame of school choice theory to understand the externality of school sector switching resulting from choice-based urban education reforms. The results indicate that sector switching is a function of race, poverty, and prior-year test scores. Low-income Black pupils in particular are more likely to leave Milwaukee’s voucher system for a public school. Sector switching has an immediate negative impact on student test scores. The results highlight the commonality and impact of sector switching in a mature urban school choice system and are of interest to scholars studying urban education reform policies.