"We Want It All": Black Parents and School "Choice"

• In Event: 25.070 - No Choice Is the Right Choice: Understanding Black Parents' School "Choices" and Engagement

Abstract

And what Black parents are looking for is what white parents take for granted: We want it all..... high expectations, facilities.... curriculum, and ... you [teachers and principals] to believe in our child’s capacity to succeed. And Black parents keep on going around looking for this and we really can’t quite seem to find it. -Vanessa Siddle Walker

Parents of all races make school choice decisions based upon their assessment of school factors and quality based upon test scores, curriculum, climate, teacher quality, degree of resources, etc. However, as in the past, Black parents’ decisions continue to involve a racial calculus around teacher’s ideologies, disciplinary practices, school demographics, academic tracking or in-school segregation, and the treatment and inclusion of Black students, parents, and families. Yet little research exists about how Black parents make decisions about where to send their children and the types of educational factors they consider in this process.

Centering the voices of Black parents, particularly those who have tried schooling options beyond the public/private divide, the research question guiding this study is: How do Black parents at an all-Black independent elementary school justify their school choice decisions? Data comes from surveys and interviews with parents (N=18) whose children attended Marshall Langston School (MLS) in Northern California. The results of the survey contextualize who these parents are educationally and economically. Interview responses indicate why the parents selected MLS for their children and why they chose to leave other schools.

Interviews indicate that these Black parents perceive that they do not have the same range of high quality school choice opportunities as white parents despite their education or class backgrounds. Among other limitations, the parents noted the under-resourced nature of public/neighborhood schools in Black communities, rigid and often racist disciplinary structures, racial isolation, and racist curriculum. The parents experienced these limitations within and across various schooling models—charter, public, private or prep schools. For example, their analysis of school options suggests that while one school may have a racially positive climate it may lack access to high quality technological, physical, and curricular resources or vice versa. Interviews also suggested a high degree of Black student mobility (across class lines) in search of the “right” school that far surpasses white students’ mobility (Lareau & Goyette, 2014).

A rising consensus among Black parents across education and class levels is that no optimal school exists for Black children. Each school choice decision implies a fatal compromise along some dimension—e.g. racialized experience, holistic well-being, academic rigor, technological resources, etc. Black parents at MLS felt that the racist nature of schools—be it the low expectations of teachers, essentialized notions of Blackness, Eurocentric curriculum, racialized disciplinary policies, hostile racial climates, or other issues—meant that in choosing a school, they always had to privilege one aspect of their child’s education over other equally important aspects. Overall, this study adds to the empirical literature on Black parents and interrogates the colorblind conceptualization of school “choice”.

Author

• Maxine McKinney de Royston, University of Wisconsin - Madison