What Is "Good" Enough? Examining Parents' Notions of School Quality in Their Rezoning Decisions

• In Event: The Array of Education Policy Actors

Abstract

Research has often shown that schools figure prominently in residential decisions and
processes. In this study, we examined suburban parents’ conceptualizations of school quality and
how those conceptualizations influenced parents’ positions on school rezoning proposals, which
sought to adjust school attendance boundaries to reduce concentrations of poverty across
schools. Using public survey data compiled from a suburban district’s rezoning process, coupled
with neighborhood demographic information, we examined the relationship between
neighborhood context and parents’ decisions on school rezoning. Findings cast new light on how
parents’ rezoning decisions interact with perceptions of school quality, the school/home choice link, and racial and economic segregation in schools.

Authors

• Andrene Castro, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Presenting Author

• Jeffrey Wooten, Virginia Commonwealth University
  Presenting Author