The impact of the school choice policy on student sorting: evidence from Seoul, South Korea

摘要

This article examines the impact of a high school choice policy in Seoul, South Korea on school segregation by student performance levels. Seoul replaced random assignment of high schools with school choice in 2010. By exploiting the policy change, this article examines the effect of the school choice policy on student sorting by ability. Using rich administrative data, this article compares school segregation prior to and following the implementation of the high school choice policy in Seoul. We find that schools became segregated by student performance levels after the implementation of the school choice policy. Because of the high degree of racial and ethnic homogeneity of South Korea, the results of this article suggest that school choice increases school academic segregation independently from school racial segregation.