School choice in a stratified geography: class, geography, otherness, and moral boundaries

Gabay-Egozi, Limor

doi:10.1080/02680939.2015.1047410

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…At the same time, however, research focusing on how low-income and working-class families and members of historically oppressed racial and ethnic groups identify fit finds that many such parents intentionally choose schools with demographic populations similar to their own either because they want their children close to home or because they want their children at schools where they believe they will be well treated by faculty and peers (Ellison & Aloe, 2019; Gabay-Egozi, 2016; Posey-Maddox et al, 2021; Yoon & Lubienski, 2017). Alternatively, some scholars have found that Black, Latinx, and/or working-class families may have different educational priorities than their White and/or relatively affluent counterparts, particularly around type of instruction and disciplinary practices (Cooper, 2005; Golann et al, 2019; Makris, 2015; Posey-Maddox, 2014; Schneider et al, 1998).…”

Section: Rational Actor Theories Of Fitmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Information Is Not Enough: School Choice, Segregation, and the Elusive Notion of Fit

Kafka

2022

Teachers College Record

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Background: School choice models assume that parents and children have varied educational preferences and that catering to those preferences will result in superior educational experiences for all. Yet, we still know relatively little about how parents identify the best school “fit” for their children and families. This question is particularly important in the context of gentrifying urban districts, where school choice often serves to broaden and intensify school segregation at precisely the moment in which racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic school integration could be a real possibility. Objective: The purpose of this study was to better understand how parents determined the best school fit for their children within a competitive system of public school choice. Setting: The study was conducted in a diverse school district in Brooklyn, New York, in which families were required to rank their preferred middle schools and schools were required to rank interested students. This competitive choice model has the potential to match students and schools by educational fit when top choices align, but can also lead to greater academic stratification and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic segregation. Participants and Research Design: Twenty-six parents from a range of social, economic, racial, ethnic, linguistic, and geographic locations and identities were interviewed over a 15-month period before, during, and after applying to middle schools for their children. The study’s longitudinal design captured parents’ shifting priorities, perceptions of school options, and notions of fit across time. Findings: Study participants’ school preferences shifted through time and were often constructed collectively. Parents sought out and accessed information about their options but, faced with too many uncertainties, also turned to others for guidance and assurance. Race, ethnicity, and class often informed parents’ perceptions of schools, but not uniformly. Notions of fit varied both within and across groups, and at times parents with similar backgrounds and stated educational priorities arrived at disparate school preferences based largely on perceptions constructed within their social networks. Conclusion/Recommendations: These findings suggest that offering families expanded access to and better quality information about their school options will do little to reduce the segregating effects of choice without also ensuring that schools are organized to address the diverse needs of students and families. Seeking to make all schools inclusive and pedagogically responsive to diverse learners will decrease some of the market efficiencies school choice has promised to deliver, but may offer an even greater social good by advancing the goals of integrated and equitable schooling.

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Section: Rational Actor Theories Of Fitmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Information Is Not Enough: School Choice, Segregation, and the Elusive Notion of Fit

Kafka

2022

Teachers College Record

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“…The importance of geography as space and place has been highlighted in the recent studies of middle-class families' school choice. That is, school choice is not simply an economic decision, but also reflects social group affinity, feelings, and behaviors of group belonging, as manifest in urban geography (Bell, 2009;Butler & Robson, 2003;Gabay-Egozi, 2016;Reay, 2007). As such, while middle-income parents have the means to choose a school anywhere, they seldom choose schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, even when those schools are high-achieving (Holme, 2002;Smrekar & Honey, 2015;Yoon & Gulson, 2010).…”

Section: Theory: Socio-spatial Perspective On School Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

How do marginalized families engage school choice in inequitable urban landscapes? A critical geographic approach

Yoon

Lubienski

2017

EPAA

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This paper examines the K-12 school choice practices and patterns of marginalized urban families whose relative living conditions have worsened in recent decades with growing income disparities. In particular, the paper draws from critical geography and the sociology of education to examine the significance of habitus, capital, field as well as site as space and place in understanding the choices made by low-income and racialized minority families. We apply an innovative mixed-methods critical geographic approach to better understand marginalized urban families’ phenomenology of school choice, while also analyzing their school choice mobility patterns through a geo-spatial analysis in Vancouver, one of the most rapidly diversifying and polarizing cities in the world.

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“…Studies suggest that parental school choice is not exercised by all parents equally. Over three decades of studies, conducted in the United States and throughout the world, suggest that parental school choice is primarily exercised by middle-class, ethnic majority, dominant language–speaking families (Beabout & Cambre, 2013; Bernal, 2005; Bosetti & Pyryt, 2007; Gabay-Egozi, 2016; Goldring & Hausman, 1999; Morgan & Blackmore, 2007; Neild, 2005; Räty, 2013; Taylor Haynes et al, 2010; Vamstad, 2014; Varjo et al, 2014; Velliaris & Willis, 2013). Historically, magnet schools have served predominately Black and Anglo populations and little research exists on Latinx (Hispanic) parent’s engagement in school choice and their patterns of participation (Taylor Haynes et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

Hispanic, English Learner, and Low-Income Parental Magnet Middle School Choice in a Majority Hispanic California Community

Weis

2019

Education and Urban Society

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Prior research suggests that parents of Hispanics, English learners, and students living in poverty exercise school choice less frequently than other parents, which may be a factor in the resegregation of public schools. This quasi-experimental, causal–comparative design tests whether ethnicity, language dominance, or socioeconomic status of the student are related to the exercise of parental choice of magnet middle school programs in a majority, minority community. The primary finding was that in this Hispanic, English learner, low-income majority California community, none of the independent variables studied predicted the exercise of parental magnet school choice. The discussion compares these findings with prior studies and suggests some possible explanations.

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School choice in a stratified geography: class, geography, otherness, and moral boundaries

Cited by 10 publications

References 51 publications

When Information Is Not Enough: School Choice, Segregation, and the Elusive Notion of Fit

When Information Is Not Enough: School Choice, Segregation, and the Elusive Notion of Fit

How do marginalized families engage school choice in inequitable urban landscapes? A critical geographic approach

Hispanic, English Learner, and Low-Income Parental Magnet Middle School Choice in a Majority Hispanic California Community

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