Why Don't Parents Do as They Say? How Low-Socioeconomic-Status Parents Define a "Good School" and Its Influence on School Selection

• In Event: 35.081 - Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: 35.081-21 - School Choice: Parental Information and Judgments

Abstract

Parents who say that the academic quality of schools is a highly important criterion when they make decisions about their children’s education often send their children to low performing schools. This paper examines the seeming disconnect between what parents say they value in a school and the decisions they make about their children’s schools. Data collected from 90 semi-structured interviews with low-SES parents in a mid-sized urban school district suggest that low-SES parents often don’t select a school with characteristics that are commonly understood as measures of academic quality (such as high test scores) because they have two layers of what they understand as a good school.

Authors

• Maika Malualelagi Tuala, Brigham Young University

• Daniela Barriga, Brigham Young University

• Cami Trujillo, Brigham Young University

• Kristie J. Rowley, Brigham Young University

• Mikaela J. Dufur, Brigham Young University

• Curtis Child, Brigham Young University