We use information on the charter school choices made by North Carolina families, separately by race, who switched their child from a traditional public school (TPS) to a charter school in 2015-16 to explore how such choices affect racial segregation between schools and racial isolation within charter schools. We find that the movement of white switchers, but not minority switchers to charter schools increases racial segregation between schools. In addition, using a conditional logit model to estimate revealed preferences, we find that the value parents place on the racial composition of individual charter schools differs by the race and income of the switchers. As a result, even after we control for other valued aspects of charter schools -- such as distance from the previous traditional public school and the charter school’s mission, academic performance and services offered -- the differential preferences of the switchers leads to substantial racial isolation within charter schools.
Parental preferences for charter schools in North Carolina: Implications for racial segregation and isolation
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/kh43-b617
EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:
Ladd, Helen F., and Mavzuna Turaeva. (). Parental preferences for charter schools in North Carolina: Implications for racial segregation and isolation. (EdWorkingPaper:
-195). Retrieved from
Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/kh43-b617Related Resources from the EdExchange
A library of instruments for education research and school improvement
A new model for informed decision-making in education