Assessing the Impact of Informational Interventions on Perceptions of School Quality

Perceptions of school quality affect many aspects of education policy and politics. Using two randomized survey experiments, we studied the factors that individuals use to evaluate school quality. Our surveys included two novel components: text analysis of open-ended responses and videos highlighting different perspectives on assessing school quality. While we found that individuals respond most strongly to test scores, we also found that a video explaining how standardized testing imperfectly reflects student learning led attentive respondents to reduce reliance on achievement status and to increase attention to growth. The results suggest that informational interventions may affect how individuals interpret school performance data. Yet, we also found evidence of political polarization and preferences for school characteristics not in standard reporting.