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

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Neoliberal rhetoric of “choice” presumes school selection to be a colorblind activity. However, research on parents’ school decision-making indicates that class and race shape choices and evaluations of school quality, academic status, and climate. Few studies, however, investigate the role that race and racism play in Black parents’ school decision-making and choices, particularly as these decisions may be differentiated or consistent across regions of the United States, the socioeconomic spectrum, and types of schooling (home, private, public, charter). In this session, five papers examine the school choice decisions and engagement of Black parents. The findings demonstrate the nuanced racial risk assessment and engagement strategies of Black parents across different geographic and schooling contexts and from different class positions.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research Focus on Black Education

Chair

• Rema Ella Reynolds, Eastern Michigan University

Papers

• "We Want It All": Black Parents and School "Choice" - Maxine McKinney de Royston, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• "I Actually Didn't Have No Choice...": Black Parents' Constrained Schooling Options - Rachel A Johnson, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Black Mothers' Varied Responses to Their Children's Racist School Experiences - Alea Rhys Holman, University of California - Berkeley

• Moving on Up? Black Parents and Dilemmas of Schooling in a Predominantly White Suburb - Linn E. Posey-Maddox, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Why We Gather: Educational Empowerment and Academic Success Through Collective Black Parental Involvement - Raquel M. Rall, University of California - Riverside

Discussant

• Jerome E. Morris, University of Missouri-St. Louis