Despite evidence that informational interventions can influence K-12 school choices, we know little about the mechanisms through which they work and the factors that produce heterogeneity in student responses. Through a school-level randomized controlled trial conducted in 473 New York City middle schools serving 115,000 eighth graders, we…

Drawing on interviews with 88 middle school counselors tasked with implementing New York City's high school choice policy, we show that counselors largely question the policy's legitimacy and the equity of the high school assignments it produces. By highlighting issues of transparency and procedural fairness that threaten counselors' acceptance of…