Experiences of Forced School Choice for Families of Students With Dis/abilities

• In Event: The Process and Limits of Choosing Schools

Abstract

School choice is embedded within school closings policies since children must be re-enrolled into new schools after their schools closed. Using parent interview data from the 2013 Chicago school closures, I explore the school choice experiences of families of students with disabilities, a population largely ignored within school choice research and disproportionately affected by school closings policies. Utilizing theoretical frameworks of choice sets (Bell, 2009) and procedural justice (for example Tyler, 1989), I find that all parents in my sample had conceptions of a “good” school for their child, a child’s disability was a reason for choosing a school, parents were differentially able to engage in school searches, and how educators treated parents throughout this choice process affected parents’ choices.

Authors

• Jennifer R Cowhy, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy Human Development and Social Policy

• Molly F. Gordon, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Maria Luisa de la Torre, University of Chicago