Coordinated Choice & Assignment Systems
Global implementation of Coordinated Choice & Assignment Systems: A roadmap for education policy reform and best practices
Coordinated Choice & Assignment Systems
Global implementation of Coordinated Choice & Assignment Systems: A roadmap for education policy reform and best practices
About
Coordinated Choice & Assignment Systems platform
Coordinated systems benefit both families and educational institutions. Families experience reduced application costs and are more likely to secure placements in preferred schools, while educational institutions benefit from enhanced efficiency in vacancy allocation and better sorting.
However, the impact of coordinated systems depends not only on their implementation, but also on seemingly minor policy choices. Evidence suggests that various features play a role in determining who gains access to educational opportunities.
CCAS platform documents current global policies governing educational access, with the objective of fostering research and identifying best practices for different contexts.
To build the platform, all the countries with a population exceeding two million were reviewed, covering three educational levels: primary, secondary, and higher education.
This led to the examination of 149 countries. Recognizing that certain countries implement choice and assignment systems at the city level rather than the national level, we extended our analysis to include all cities with a population surpassing one million. As a result, our search expanded to cover more than 600 cities.
There has been a notable increase in the adoption of coordinated systems over the past decades, with 60% of the countries reviewed implementing such systems.
These systems exhibit significant heterogeneity, and in many countries, particularly at the primary and secondary education levels, they do not align with theoretical and empirical evidence regarding state-of-the-art policies. Coordinated systems frequently exhibit limited coverage, as they do not span the entire country and often exclude various educational institutions. Moreover, elements like the adoption of short preference lists and the incorporation of the Immediate Acceptance mechanism contribute to sub-optimal outcomes by encouraging applicants to deviate from expressing their true preferences.
