Abstract

One of the most common criticisms of school choice programs is that instead of improving student achievement, they would increase school segregation. From the supply side, schools can select their student body, especially those students who they perceive to be easier and less costly to educate. From the demand side, parents can use different criteria to choose a school, such as their proximity to the school, school quality or the school’s ethnic/racial composition. As a result, the system would be segregated based on the parents' preferences. This research examines indigenous parents' school preferences and whether ethnic discrimination influences their decision-making process. We use national-level data from Chile, a country with national school choice since 1981. The results show that indigenous students and particularly those who have suffered ethnic discrimination in middle school, prefer high schools with a higher percentage of indigenous students. Furthermore, we found that the level of acts discrimination occurred in middle schools due to the students' ethnicity increases as the percentage of indigenous students rises; however, when the proportion of indigenous and non-indigenous students is similar, indigenous students are less likely to face ethnicity-based discrimination