Weighed Down: An Exploration of Families' Time and Labor Costs While Navigating School Choice

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Successes and Challenges in Navigating Equity Dilemmas

Abstract

Separating students’ residences from their educational entitlements may create additional schooling opportunities for disadvantaged students, but it may also pose potential burdens related to navigating choice processes that families are unevenly equipped to address. This study draws on parent interviews conducted in Washington DC to investigate the demands of selecting schools and parents’ strategic responses. Building on Potterton’s (2020) concept of “parental accountability,” this study finds that when families experience pressures related to school choice, some are able to leverage extra time, strategic partnerships, a high degree of mobility, knowledge of the school landscape, and other resources that make them better able to access high quality schools.

Author

• Jason Saltmarsh, University of Maryland - College Park