Unregulated Open Enrollment and Inequitable Access to Schools of Choice

Race, Geography, and School Choice Policy: A Critical Analysis of Detroit Students’ Suburban School Choices

“…This allowed us to highlight the relative concentration of students in different suburban geographies and schools, and more clearly compare those patterns for Black, Hispanic, White/MENA, and Asian students. 4 For the open enrollment policies of suburban public school districts, we categorized districts as "open" (few or no restrictions), "managed" (some restrictions), and "closed" (completely restricted) based on our prior research (Lenhoff, 2020). For the racial demography of the metro Detroit area, we produced racial dot maps, showing the dispersion and density of residents in the metro Detroit area based on the following five categories: Back, Hispanic, White/MENA, Asian, and other race (combining the following categories: American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and Two or more races).…”

“…Different levels of "openness" among metro Detroit districts (based on the discretionary policy decisions of local school boards) are associated with the region's racial geography and result in exclusionary enrollment patterns. When suburban districts are closer to a school district with a large Black residential population, they are more likely to enact restrictive enrollment policies; and these restrictions are associated with significantly lower levels of nonresident Black student enrollment (Lenhoff, 2020). In addition, while Detroit students (and especially Black Detroit students) who choose suburban schools are pushed by inequitable access to quality schools in Detroit and pulled toward schools with higher overall test scores (Lenhoff et al, 2020), far distances prevent them from enrolling in schools with the highest test scores (Edwards, 2021).…”

“…Charter schools may locate themselves in or near urban neighborhoods with high proportions of racially minoritized families to recruit these students (Henig & McDonald, 2002). In addition, suburban districts may adjust their open enrollment policies to balance recruitment of nonresident students with the hoarding of educational opportunities for resident students (Lenhoff, 2020). Importantly, charter schools often strategically choose locations that confer desirability, such as downtown business districts (Green et al, 2019) or areas with relatively lower levels of socioeconomic disadvantage (Gulosino & Lubienski, 2011); and public and charter schools in suburban districts benefit from the spatial perception of the suburbs as a place of opportunity (Diamond et al, 2021).…”

“…Using survey data from a study of local district open enrollment policies (see Lenhoff [2020] for details on the survey), we determined the relative "openness" of suburban districts to Detroit residents. We combined these data with geographic information: the boundaries of school districts in Michigan (in the form of shapefiles 2 ) and the physical address of all Michigan schools, both available as public state data.…”

Economic Imperialism in Education Research: A Conceptual Review

“…First, economics has colonized other disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, and international development studies (Chuah, 2006; Fine & Milonakis, 2009; Menashy & Read, 2016), narrowing the lens through which policymakers have designed education reforms, influencing the normative aims of education, and limiting the types of research methods that inform policies. Arguably, as a result, policies rooted in market logic, such as school choice, have become commonplace despite critiques of their impacts on equity, access, and quality (e.g., Frankenberg et al, 2011; Jennings, 2010; Lenhoff, 2020; Phillips et al, 2015; Stein, 2015). Although other factors, apart from economic imperialism, may contribute to market-based policies in education—for instance the power of corporate entities, philanthropists, and policy entrepreneurs (Reckhow, 2012; Scott, 2009; Tompkins-Stange, 2016; Verger, 2012)—the clear reference to economic rationales and models within school choice policies warrants an analysis through the lens of economic imperialism.…”