Beyond Standardized Test Scores: The Impact of a Public School Closure on House Prices

Abstract In most studies, standardized test scores are used as a proxy for school quality. Standardized test scores, however, may not fully capture the value of a public school to the households who live in the school’s attendance zone. We use the sudden closure of a well-performing public school in Iowa to estimate this value. Holding other things constant, we find that the school added 6.8% (about $9,000 for the mean house price) to the value of houses in the attendance zone over and above any effect associated with standardized test scores.