Reducing the Filtering Effect in Public School Admissions: A Bias-aware Analysis for Targeted Interventions

Problem definition: Traditionally, New York City’s top 8 public schools have selected candidates solely based on their scores in the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). These scores are known to be impacted by socioeconomic status of students and amount of test preparation received in middle schools, leading to a massive filtering effect in the education pipeline. The classical mechanisms for assigning students to schools do not naturally address problems like school segregation and class diversity, which have worsened over the years. The scientific community, including policymakers, have reacted by incorporating group-specific quotas and proportionality constraints, with mixed results. The problem of finding effective and fair methods for broadening access to the education pipeline is still unsolved. Methodology/results: We take an operations approach to the problem different from most established literature, with the goal of increasing opportunities for students with high economic needs. Using data from the Department of Education (DOE) in New York City, we show that there is a shift in the distribution of scores obtained by students that the DOE classifies as “disadvantaged” (following criteria mostly based on socioeconomic factors). We model this shift as a “bias” that reflects an underestimation of the true potential of disadvantaged students. We analyze the impact this phenomenon has on an assortative matching market. We show that centrally planned interventions can significantly reduce the impact of bias through scholarships or training, when they target the segment of disadvantaged students with average performance. Managerial implications: To make these interventions incentive compatible and individually-fair, we propose a randomized policy for allocation of training resources to students, which is targeted more towards average performers. Our results challenge the existing notions of scholarships, asking for a closer look into resource allocation to students for a better access to education pipelines.