A Comparison of Parent-Led Nonprofits in Selective Public High Schools of Choice

• In Event: 4451 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 min): Table 9: Power of Parents, Programs, and Policies

Abstract

Many selective public high schools were created to help desegregate school districts. Today, these schools tend to disproportionately enroll white, upper-class children. While the discourse around these schools focuses on the admissions processes, an understudied area of study is how they bring together parents (and other stakeholders) with high levels of cultural, economic, and social capital. This paper presents three case studies of private nonprofit organizations that support selective public high schools through fundraising, community building, and/or political advocacy. All three organizations are highly professionalized, and the organizations’ members understand their fundraising work as making up for a deficit in county budgets. They also portray the selective programs as providing positive social benefits, including promoting diversity within the schools and equity more broadly. This study expands the current understanding of SSNPs by showing that (1) non-parent participants, including alumni, teachers, and students can play important roles in the organizations and (2) the groups’ functions and strategies vary in response to their local political and institutional contexts.

Author

• Eleanor Lake Harris, Mount Holyoke College