The Effects of School Choice Competition on an Underserved Neighborhood Public School

Abstract

This critical ethnography utilizes critical policy analysis and a theoretical understanding of neoliberal racism to examine the practiced reality of school choice in a public, under-resourced, and historically underperforming neighborhood elementary school attended predominantly by Latina/o/x students. Despite improvement initiatives that resulted in performance distinctions, the school under study experienced substantial enrollment decline amidst the poaching of students by charter schools within the attendance zone. Moreover, the competitive school choice market within the school’s district resulted in the reshuffling of teachers, reinforcement of neoliberal improvement discourses, and even the exploitation of dual language students to raise the school’s market profile. The study provides a unique, up-close representation of marketization in public schools and the residualizing effects that school choice policies can have on public education writ large.