Parents Know Better: Sorting on Match Effects in Primary School

Abstract I show that parents select schools that improve the student-school match. Using the centralized algorithm for offers to primary schools in London, I compare the achievement of students who are as good as randomly enroled in schools ranked differently in their application. Enroling at the first choice compared to a school ranked lower increases achievement by 0.03 standard deviations per year beyond the average school value-added across students. Match effects arise from unobserved student's and school's attributes, and are larger for relatively advantaged students. Results imply that parental choice can increase aggregate learning.