Access to Choice: Digging Deeper to Understand Who Participates in Interdistrict Choice

• In Event: Investigating the Potential of Regional Interdistrict Collaboration to Address Inequality and Isolation in Education

Abstract

Objectives
This second single-site paper examines the issue of access within Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Choice Program (USITP) in Rochester, NY. Choice policies have been used for more than 40 years to address segregation and school failure. These policies, offering students the opportunity to cross district boundaries, are based on research that found that recent segregation is primarily between districts (Lankford & Wyckoff, 2005).
The USITP began in 1965 when one suburban district allowed students from the inner city to transfer (Heinrich, 1969). Currently, 450 students from the Rochester City School District (RCSD) attend 43 suburban schools. This paper focuses on issues of equity relating to this inter-district choice policy. Specifically, it examines which students have access to the opportunities offered by USITP by studying who applies, who enrolls, and who remains in USITP through graduation. The paper focuses on aspects of USITP that may limit the equitable access of students.

Theoretical Framework
This paper builds upon the choice, integration, and implementation literature from political science, sociology, and education to examine the issues around equity of access relating to inter-district choice. This literature suggests that participants in these types of policies have an increased level of comfort with people of other races (Holme, Wells, Revilla, 2005; Orfield & Lee, 2005; Wells, Holme, Revilla, & Atanda, 2009) and have improved post-secondary outcomes (Wells & Crain, 1994; 2005; Wells, et al, 2009). However, little is known about the informal and formal structures that limit access to and participation in inter-district choice programs. The broader literature suggests that access can be limited by parent knowledge and resources (Armour & Peiser, 1997; Fuller, Elmore, & Orfield, 1996; Wells & Crain, 2005) thereby favoring higher income families. Little is known, however, as to whether certain racial/ethnic backgrounds are better able to navigate these policies or the formal and informal structures of the application process that may limit access of students.

Methods and Data Sources
The focus of this case study is the Rochester, NY metropolitan area. RCSD serves 33,000 students and is 85 percent nonwhite, with three-quarters of students receiving free and reduced price lunches (Orman, 2004). Monroe County, in which RCSD is located, is 81 percent white (U.S. Census, 2002). This paper is based upon interviews with stakeholders, including USITP governance board members, administrators, superintendents, school administrators, and teachers (n=30). The paper also draws upon administrative records, including records of 40 years of student enrollment data (n=6000) and the recent application files (n=1030), census data, newspaper articles, and USITP documents.

Findings/ Significance
Findings suggest that participation is limited by both the application process itself and by program and school-level decisions about students. Processes favor well-connected parents, high achieving students, and higher income families. However, these findings must be considered within the broader racial climate as the program has a tenuous existence in many communities and therefore the efforts to limit participation are the result of both formal procedures and underlying concerns about the continuation of the program if it no longer operated “under the radar.”

Authors

• Kara S. Finnigan, University of Rochester

• Nadine D. Hylton, University of Rochester