It is well-known in academic circles that if you come from a disadvantaged background, you are more likely to attend a purportedly poor performing school. It is not necessarily the rule, but it is nevertheless prevalent.

As to why this is the case, well, according to new research, it is less to do with preference and more to do with geography and, as we know, income plays a significant role in determining where it is we live. The wealthier you are, the better the neighbourhood, the poorer you are, the more deprived it is going to be.

The collaborative study, between the Centre for Market and Public Organisation at Bristol University, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Cambridge University, found that there is an inherent "constraint" in school choice between households of high and low socioeconomic status.

In the first part, analysis of data shows that there are considerable differences in the "academic quality" of local schools for families in different socioeconomic groups. For example, the team found that on average, the richest socioeconomic quintile are able to access – by virtue of location – local schools that achieve"grades 46 per cent of a standard deviation than those available to families in the poorest fifth of families".

Second, there is an additional layer of difference, the report's authors elaborate. Popular schools naturally have a higher application rate for places, meaning that some apparatus is needed to "ration" availability. In England, the means by which this tends to be achieved is through proximity – if you live closer, then you have priority.

However, despite this have some rational argument attached to it, there is a negative offshoot – it further complicates the matter and reinforces economic educational differences, ensuring that wealth plays an influential factor in how students fare at school and in later life.

"The gap in average school quality for the richest and poorest fifth of families is one third greater when considering schools feasible in terms of distance and the probability of admission," explained Bristol University's Simon Burgess, the IFS's Ellen Greaves and Cambridge University's Anna Vignoles, in a blog post.

"It is this criterion that is responsible for a significant component of inequality in access to high-performing schools."

The findings of the report go some way in downplaying the idea that personal preference is the dominant factor in determining what school parents send their children to. Yes this plays a part, but what has to be taken into account is the fact that families living in certain area codes are exposed to a certain set of schools. Consequently, wealthier families are able to select institutions that achieve, on the whole, better grades.

"Our research related families’ choices of school to the attributes of all local and feasible schools to estimate the strength of the families’ preferences for these attributes," the authors of the study elaborated.

"We also investigated the variation in observed preferences between socio-economic groups. Our results show that families care about three main school attributes: the academic quality of the school, its socioeconomic composition, and the home-school distance."

The solution to this is difficult. For example, all parents want to send their children to schools that deliver a high level of education that is supported by consistently good grades. However, these schools are not in a position to offer places to everyone who applies, there being logistical limitations to this.

What the coalition behind the report proposes is an "alternative to proximity as a tie-breaker". This could work with a lottery process, whereby over-subscribed schools offer up places beyond the catchment area. That will go a long way to diversifying the school experience, for those of all backgrounds. That kind of rich exposure can be life-changing.

"The overall goal for policy is to make all schools excellent," the authors said in their insightful blog. "But until that nirvana arrives we cannot ignore the question of how places in the better performing schools are allocated. And at the moment, the proximity criterion for admissions means that differences in family income have a substantial and regressive impact on that allocation."