No Quick Fix: Evidence that School Information Fails to Mitigate Racialized School Perceptions and Preferences

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 16: Racial Inequities and School Choice: Exploring the Dynamics of Segregation, Perception, and Community

Abstract

Race-based discrimination and segregation are persistent realities in the United States. Drawing on theories of biased stereotypes and statistical discrimination, scholars propose increasing information availability could counter racialized beliefs, choices, and resulting inequalities. This study examines whether increased school safety information alters race-based school evaluations and selections through a preregistered school choice survey experiment with 1,000 parents in Fall 2024. Participants evaluated school profiles with randomized racial and socioeconomic demographics, quality ratings, and graduation rates, with some also receiving school safety information. Results demonstrate that White, Asian, and Latine parents perceived Black and Latine schools as less supportive, more violent, and academically weaker than otherwise similar White and Asian schools. They also preferred to enroll in their students in White and Asian schools over Black and Latine schools. Importantly, providing additional information about school safety did not alter parents’ anti-Black and ant-Latine beliefs about schools nor their desires to avoid Black and Latine schools. Results suggest that merely providing information about spaces and individuals may not be enough to curtail the racial biases and stereotypes that underlie racialized evaluations, discrimination and segregation.

Author

• Chantal Annise Hailey, University of Texas-Austin