What Some Parents Want: Objective Testing and Segregation by Ability

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Revisiting Assessment and Achievement Through a Structural Lens: Disparate Outcomes and Opportunities (Table 13)

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the ways that parents of high-achieving students who attend selective public magnet high schools understand notions of merit, fairness, selection, the distribution of scarce resources, and (in)equality. This study specifically highlights the perspectives and voices of parents who make critical decisions concerning their children’s education and their construction of what constitutes a fair and desirable educational system. The findings of this study suggest that what some parents desire for their children’s education and the broader education system is (1) for academic ability and potential to be determined by a singular objective test and (2) segregation by ability.

Author

• Christopher Hu, University of Virginia
  Presenting Author