What is diverse enough? How “intentionally diverse” charter schools recruit and retain students

Abstract

School choice has the potential to be a tool for desegregation, but research suggests that choice more often exacerbates segregation than remedies it. In the past several years, hundreds of 'intentionally diverse' charter schools have opened across the country, potentially countering the link between charter schools and segregation. Yet, these schools raise important questions about choice, segregation, and equity. For instance: how do leaders of diverse charter schools prioritize diversity in decisions about location, marketing, and recruitment? What are the implications of these diversity efforts for equity, especially within competitive and marketized educational contexts? We explore the concrete recruiting and marketing strategies schools used to build and retain their diverse communities, drawing on qualitative data from New Orleans, LA and Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. We identify key strategies used by school leaders, but also note that many strategies were ad-hoc and experimental. Furthermore, we note that schools often did not articulate their goals for diversity,

“Doing what it takes to keep the school open”: The philanthropic networks of progressive charter schools

“…As Empire and Liberty in particular demonstrate, white and middle-class families and staff were key to connecting the schools with networks of affluent donors. Although Empire and Liberty each aimed to enroll diverse populations, these goals were constrained absent policy mechanisms that would foster integration, a pattern consistent with other "intentionally diverse" charter schools (Jabbar & Wilson, 2018). Recent initiatives in New York City to redesign district lines and alter admissions policies offer examples of how districts highly stratified by race and class can become more equitably resourced (Shapiro, 2018).…”

Citizenship Development and the Market’s Impact: Examining Democratic Learning in Charter Schools in Two Regions

“…Rather than merely aggregating data, meta-ethnographies combine data from independent studies to generate new analyses and interpretations beyond those of the original studies (Noblit & Hare, 1988). Like other scholars who have synthesized qualitative studies and reanalyzed combined data through new conceptual frameworks (Cucchiara & Horvat, 2009;DiMartino & Jessen, 2016;Jabbar & Wilson, 2018), this meta-ethnography enabled us to explore how the marketization within two urban contexts affects the form and nature of democratic and political learning opportunities in charter schools. A meta-ethnographic approach also allowed us to explore patterns across contexts, enhancing theory development and the practical implications of the study's findings (Patton, 2014).…”

“…Conversely, the other two independent schools in the sample were each established more recently and intentionally sought to locate in gentrifying neighborhoods, hoping that doing so would facilitate a diverse student body. Despite their founding aims to be "intentionally diverse" (Jabbar & Wilson, 2018), at the time of data collection, each school had yet to meet this goal: One school disproportionately enrolled students of color (70%) and low-income students (60%), whereas at the other school, nearly half of all students were White and only one quarter low income. Despite distinct racial and socioeconomic enrollment patterns, the schools in the New York sample shared a commitment to progressive pedagogy and aimed to foster student learning through hands-on and projectbased learning experiences.…”

Narrativas familiares e institucionales sobre las barreras de acceso a centros escolares en familias migrantes: Un estudio de caso en España

“…Si determinados centros escolares muestran una predisposición especial por captar, convencer o seleccionar a familias migrantes por medio de una oferta de servicios especializada en diversidad (Jabbar & Wilson, 2018;Turner, 2017), otros centros establecen mecanismos que funcionan de modo inverso, impidiendo el acceso de un tipo de alumnado "más diverso" o heterogéneo y que se percibe como más costoso en términos de recursos adaptados a necesidades educativas específicas.…”

“…En el otro lado estarían las "charter schools" (Cobb & Glass, 1999) o centros concertados cuya composición escolar se acerca más a una escolarización de alumnado proveniente de minorías étnicas, con una propensión a la oferta de formación profesional y servicios más especializados, que atraerían a un alumnado más diverso (Jabbar & Wilson, 2018).…”