st: Selecting cases for optimal match with vector of means

[Jacob Felson <felsonj@gmail.com>]

I'm wondering if there is a Stata routine that could facilitate the
following task.

Students in my department were recently administered a standardized test
from the Educational Testing Service (ETS).  This test was administered in
141 other schools.  ETS offers me the option of selecting a set of no fewer
than 10 other schools with which to compare the scores of students in my
department.  Of course, I would like to select a comparison sample of
schools that matches my school in important ways.  I have data on average
SAT scores, percent black and percent Hispanic.

Not surprisingly, there are no schools that are exactly the same as mine on
the above three metrics.  But I am attempting to select a sample of schools
in an optimal fashion in order to minimize the mismatch between the metrics
in the comparison school and the metrics for my school.  What might be the
best way to go about doing this?  Propensity score matching is out of the
question because ETS standardized test scores are not available to me.  I
would like to select a sample that provides an optimal balance of bias and
efficiency.


Thank you for your attention to this,


Sincerely,
Jacob Felson
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
William Paterson University
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