Choice and Segregation: Exploring the Choices and Consequences of Students' Charter School Transfers

• In Event: 49.049 - Charter Schools: Organizational Issues and Attracting Students

Abstract

Few studies have been able to ascertain how movements to charter schools affect segregation, but those that have suggest that black students’ moves to charter schools are segregative. Using individual student data from the state of Pennsylvania from 2008 to 2012, this study assess how the transfer from a traditional public school to a charter school affects students’ racial isolation. Preliminary findings indicate that when black and Latino students move to charters, they end up attending more racially isolated schools. This analysis will also explore whether, and if so how, charter school racial composition is an important factor in black, Latino, and white students’ school choices in ten metros with multiple charter school options of divergent demographics.

Authors

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University

• Stephen Kotok, The University of Texas - El Paso

• Kai A. Schafft, The Pennsylvania State University

• Bryan Arthur Mann, Pennsylvania State University