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One of the pillars of the educational voucher system is that competition between schools to attract students would improve the quality ofthe education provided. Surveys in Chile have suggested that parents are not aware of the performance of their children's schools. In this paper, we assess the effect ofpublic information of school quality on the school choice by parents. We use a data set which includes measurements of the distance between homes and schools, and the performance of the school measured by a standardized tests and the school fee for two distinct periods (1996 and 2003). Whereas in 1996, information regarding school performance was scarce, it was widespread in 2003. We conclude that regardless of these considerations, school performance is an important determinant of school choice. Thus, parents appear to act "as if' they knew it when choosing a school. Nevertheless, making public the information regarding the performance of the schools has made it a more important factor in choosing a school. Uno de los pilares detrás del sistema chileno de vouchers es que la competencia entre escuelas por atraer alumnos debiera conducir a mejoras en la calidad de la educación. Encuestas a padres de familia indican que los padres desconocen el desempeño de las escuelas de sus hijos. Este trabajo muestra el efecto de la provisión de información en la selección de escuelas. Para ello, construimos una base de datos que incluye medidas de distancia entre hogares y escuelas, junto con información del desempeño de las escuelas en pruebas estandarizadas para dos períodos (1996 y 2003). Mientras que en 1996 no existía información pública del desempeño de una escuela, en el ano 2003 sí la había. Concluimos que en ambos períodos el desempeño de los colegios es importante en la elección de escuelas, por lo que los padres se comportan como si conocieran esta información. De todos modos, hacer pública esta información hizo que este factor sea más relevante al momento de elegir escuelas.

We study school choice within the family, analyzing how birth order, gender, innate talent, and family financial restrictions impact the parents´ decision to prioritize the education of one or more of the children over the rest. We find that parents, particularly from lower income homes, are more likely to select more prestigious, higher cost schools for their eldest child, male children and the most talented children. This behavior may explain part of the positive “male bias” in learning and may have a relevant impact on income distribution among family members.