International Perspectives on Education Reform: Voucher Systems, School Education Quality, and Parental Choice in Bishkek

If parents in the Kyrgyz Republic were allowed to choose schools freely, whether public or private, through a voucher system, would they make decisions based on the quality of education, as proponents of school choice assume? To evaluate the relative importance of academic quality over non-academic features, an original survey of 250 parents in the City of Bishkek, incorporating a conjoint experiment, was conducted. Pairs of hypothetical schools were presented, and parents were asked to choose which they would prefer for their children. The main finding is that while some non-academic features, such as the distance to school and the presence of friends, were influential, the most important factor explaining parents’ choice was the academic quality of schools.