“As long as my kids are safe”: How Neighborhood Crime Shapes Parents’ School Decisions

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 1. Neighborhood Experiences and Educational Outcomes

Abstract

Families cite crime and safety concerns as an important factor in both neighborhood and school decisions, yet we also know that neighborhood contexts can shape perceptions of their local schools. In this study, I examine how perceptions of neighborhood crime and safety spill over to shape parents’ decisions for their children’s schools. Using a stated choice experiment where parents are presented hypothetical, paired neighborhood and school scenarios, I examine how crime and school characteristics shape their willingness to move to the offered neighborhood and send their child to the local public school using both the experimental choices and parents’ justification of their choices in open-ended fields. I find that, first, high neighborhood crime rates spill over to shape perceptions of local school characteristics, specifically test scores, such that higher proficiency rates are less influential on parents’ decisions when those schools are located in high crime neighborhoods. Second, I show that high neighborhood crime also prompts parents to avoid the local public school, in favor of homeschooling or private school options, even though the parents are choosing to live in that high crime neighborhood.

Author

• Elly Field, Brown University