Exiting Detroit for School: Inequitable Choice Sets and School Quality

• In Event: Navigating and Negotiating Choice in Competitive Educational Marketplaces

Abstract

Nearly a quarter of the students who live in Detroit, Mich., attend a public school outside the city. It is critical for Detroit educational and political leaders to better understand what is pushing students to exit Detroit for school and what school qualities may be pulling students toward suburban schools. Using a unique approach to measuring student choice sets by weighting school characteristics by neighborhood peer enrollment, this study examines how choice set characteristics are associated with exiting Detroit for school and differences in choice sets and suburban school characteristics by racial and socio-economic status.

Authors

• Sarah Winchell Lenhoff, Wayne State University

• Jeremy Lee Singer, Wayne State University

• Ben Pogodzinski, Wayne State University

• Walter Cook, Wayne State University