The Effect of School Construction on Test Scores, School Enrollment, and Home Prices

This paper provides new evidence on the effect of elementary and middle school construction projects on home prices, academic achievement, and school enrollment. Combining the staggered implementation of a comprehensive school construction project in a poor urban district with panel data on student test scores and neighborhoods of residence, the authors find that, by six years after building occupancy, school construction increases reading scores by 0.15 standard deviations relative to the year before building occupancy. The authors do not observe similar effects for math scores. School construction raised home prices in affected neighborhoods by roughly 10%, and led to increased public school enrollment. The authors note that their findings are important for assessing the costs and benefits of potential school infrastructure investments and policies.