Does choice lead to racially distinctive schools? Charter schools and household preferences

TLDR

School choice is feared to increase racial segregation, yet few studies have examined whether households sort by race when selecting schools. This study analyzes responses from 1,006 Texas charter‑school households to determine if racial preferences influence school choice. The authors first assess households’ expressed preferences and then compare those preferences with actual enrollment decisions. Results show that race strongly predicts choice, with white, African‑American, and Latino families enrolling in charter schools that contain 11–14 percentage points more of their racial group than the traditional public schools they leave. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

Abstract

Abstract A persistent fear regarding school choice is that it will lead to more racially distinctive schools. A growing number of studies compares choosing households to non‐choosing households, but few have examined the possibility that choosers sort themselves out based upon school preferences that are correlated with race and ethnicity. This report addresses this issue by analyzing the responses of 1,006 charter school households in Texas. It first examines the expressed preferences of choosing households, then compares expressed preferences with behavior. A comparison of the characteristics of the traditional public schools that choosers leave with the characteristics of the charter schools they choose indicates that race is a good predictor of the choices that choosing households make. Whites, African Americans, and Latinos transfer into charter schools where their groups comprise between 11 and 14 percentage points more of the student body than the traditional public schools they are leaving. © 2002 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.