Understanding the Diversity and Equity of a New Generation of Controlled School Choice Policies

• In Event: 65.027 - Places, Boundaries, and Changing Racial Politics

Abstract

Rationale: Student assignment policies (SAPs) in K-12 schools can either reproduce or help ameliorate existing inequality. Some districts are trying to maintain voluntarily-adopted integration policies despite the Supreme Court’s most recent decision, which prohibited most race-conscious school choice policies that were the effective and popular ways of accomplishing integration. While alternative policies with minimal or no use of race are still permitted, it is unclear whether they will create diverse schools. This research examines the new generation of school choice policies post-Parents Involved to understand how they affect diversity and equity in our multiracial, yet increasingly race-neutral era.

Research questions are:
To what extent are schools racially and economically diverse before and after the “new generation” of controlled choice policies?
Are there differences by student characteristics in who gets their school choices under the new SAPs? How does receiving a top school choice predict who enrolls?

I analyze the controlled choice policies of Jefferson County, Kentucky, which considers the racial and socioeconomic characteristics of students’ Census block group instead of individual characteristics in determining students’ assignment.

Theoretical Rationale: SAPs are designed to change the composition of students in schools. SAPs that have voluntary integration have two aims: 1) to reduce racially isolated schools because these schools have fewer educational resources that matter for students’ learning (Linn & Welner, 2007); and 2) to create diverse schools, which has long-term perpetuating outcomes for students (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; Wells & Crain, 1994).

School choice is increasingly popular but choice-only policies tend to produce further stratification (APA Brief, 2006; Dougherty, et al., 2013; Hastings, Kane, and Staiger, 2010; Orfield, 2013), but choice policies can be designed in ways that further integration (see Author, 2013; Betts, et al., 2006). Options remain for districts to pursue voluntary integration through a “new generation” of controlled choice policies that do not use an individual’s racial identity for school assignment (Author, 2011; Reardon, Yun, & Kurlaender, 2006). Though SES plans or geography-based plans may create more diverse schools than policies not considering either set of characteristics, they are not as successful at producing racial integration as individual race-based plans (Reardon et al., 2006; Reardon & Rhodes, 2011; Richards, et al., 2012).

Methods: I employ quantitative methods to analyze data from Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) from 2006-07 to present. I use data from the NCES Common Core of Data to calculate school-level racial segregation using several measures: concentration, exposure and information theory index. Additionally, I analyze de-identified student level data from JCPS students’ applications and subsequent enrollment. I estimate logistic regression models before and after the policy change predicting whether students were granted their first choice or not and to examine whether individual characteristics or receipt of first choice school make students likelier to enroll.

Significance: This analysis provides useful evidence about the efficacy of new types of choice policies that aim to create diverse, equitable schools under new legal constraints. It also enhances our understanding of the evolving relationships among race, SES, and educational inequality.

Author

• Erica Frankenberg, The Pennsylvania State University