This article focuses on the impact of families' school choices on learning by children from different socioeconomic backgrounds in early primary school in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study analyzes data from a longitudinal research project on students that began second grade in 2005. The variables related to different family choices had significant effects on children's reading skills, even after adjusting for household assets and previous knowledge. The family's choice of a better school despite the distance from home had a particularly relevant impact.
family choices; longitudinal data; educational stratification; residential segregation
