School choice across different regions of Spain

Abstract

This paper analyses the characteristics that lead parents to choose a particular school for their children in different Spanish regions. This choice is studied taking into account several school and family characteristics. We estimate the probability of parents choosing a particular school using a conditional logit model for different Spanish regions with data from PISA 2012. The main results indicate that the characteristics with the biggest influence on school choice are public/private, location, and reputation. As expected, some characteristics, like a school being private, and its socioeconomic composition, become more relevant as family wealth and parents' education level increases.