Race, Social Background, and School Choice Options¹

Access to Better Education: The School Choice Experience of Families Served by Low-Performing Elementary Public Schools in Miami-Dade County

“…As illustrated in the literature review chapter, current school-choice policy creates an education market in which parents are provided more school options from which to choose and schools are put in a position to compete for parents' business (Schneider et al 1997;Bartlett et al 2002). Public school choice policy seeks to improve the academic achievement of all schools, gives parents more control of the school their child attends using a competitive educational market and provide a wide selection of alternative schooling options to all families (Buckley and Schneider 2003;Goyette 2008;Lubienski et al 2009). Chapter III examines how these objectives of Florida's school choice policy are fulfilled by Miami-Dade County's school choice programs.…”

“…Public school choice policy seeks to provide alternative schooling options to all families, improve the academic achievement of all schools and give parents more control of the school their child attends (Goyette 2008;Moe 2008;Ben-Porath 2009;Lubienski et al 2009). Choice policy has increased in popularity over the last two decades.…”

“…Nearly all states offer some variation of school choice options to parents (Hoxby 2003;Lander and Lips 2008). School choice attempts to use competition to improve academic achievement (Goyette 2008;Ben-Porath 2009;Ravitch 2013). …”

“…Although school choice gives parents the opportunity to transfer their children to a high performing school or to a school that provides a desirable academic program, many parents continue to have their children subjected to a subpar education (AndreBechely 2007;Ferryman et al 2008;Goyette 2008;Lubienski et al 2009). For parents seeking an alternative schooling option, choosing a school is a process that requires resources both for making a schooling choice and for getting their child to the chosen school.…”

“…In the choice model, schools deemed inadequate will be motivated to improve themselves for fear that students will seek alternative schooling options, taking their perpupil expenditures with them (Cooper and Randall 2008). Public school choice policy seeks to provide alternative schooling options to all families, improve the academic achievement of all schools and give parents control of the school their child attends (Goyette 2008;Moe 2008;Lubienski et al 2009;Ben-Porath 2009;Ravitch 2013). …”