Transportation as a Barrier to Education Access: Evidence from Chicago Public Schools

Cecilia Moreira, Steven Puller, and Blueprint Research Associate Ini Umosen examine whether transportation limits the reach of school choice in Chicago, where most high school students rely on public transit to get to school. Using ranked-choice applications and transit travel times, they find that Black students are less likely to rank top-rated schools first and face longer commutes to reach them, and that giving Black students the travel times of white students would raise their predicted demand for top-rated schools by 23 percentage points.