Public and private high schools: Is school choice an answer to the productivity problem?

Using data drawn from NELS88, this paper attempts to help answer the question of whether public-private school choice is a policy that would help improve the overall achievement of students. Separate models of achievement for schools in each sector are estimated, from which estimated sector achievement differentials are calculated. These differentials are then used in a structural model of school choice to determine whether parents choose schools which academically benefit their children. The results do not show private schools to outperform public schools, but do show sectoral achievement differentials affect choice of school sector.