Middle-Class African American Parents' Perspectives of Academic Rigor and School Choice in Detroit

• In Event: Urban Schooling: Parents, School Choice, and Developing Positive Racial Identities

Abstract

This case study examined the perspectives of middle class African American parents in a parent network in Detroit who sought the best school options for their emerging Kindergarten children. Their residency and school choices emerged against the grain of public schools that have racially charged histories and decades of residential mobility trends. Examined are participants’ perspectives of reading programs and instruction, across prospective public, private, and charter school options. Thus, an analysis of interviews, parent workshops and survey data revealed parents’ perspectives for 1) criteria for reading programs informing school choice, 2) criteria for academic rigor 3) parents’ perspectives of reading programs at their prospective schools, and 4) parents’ conceptualized advocacy efforts with reading programs.

Author

• Kirsten D. Hill, University of Michigan - Dearborn