The Impact of School Choice on Racial Segregation in Charter Schools

Abstract

This study captures the impact of school choice decisions by comparing the racial composition of the district schools students exited to the charter schools they entered. Charter school catchment areas are operationalized using a statewide student-level database to track school attendance patterns of individual students over 4 years. Charter elementary school choosers enter charter schools that are more racially segregated than the district schools they exited, although on entrance into high school, choosers enter charter schools that are as racially segregated or more integrated than the district schools they exited. In addition, racial segregation patterns are the result of White flight and Black and Native American students self-segregating into charter schools that are more racially isolated than the district schools they exit.

Exploring school choice and the consequences for student racial segregation within Pennsylvania’s charter school transfers

“…For example, in several studies, Black students attended charter schools where the percentage of Black students was 15 or more percentage points greater than the TPS they exited Weiher & Tedin, 2002). Additionally, studies of individual charter movers in Arizona (Garcia, 2008), North Carolina (Bifulco & Ladd, 2007), Texas and California (Booker, Zimmer, & Buddin, 2005), and Ohio (Zimmer et al, 2009) support the claim that students-especially Black students-tend to leave more racially diverse TPSs for more segregated charter schools. Some studies also find that White students' transfers to charter schools are also segregative (Zimmer et al, 2009).…”

“…Despite the optimism among some proponents that school choice would create racially diverse student bodies, charter schools have been found to be more racially homogenous than TPSs Garcia, 2008). For example, in several studies, Black students attended charter schools where the percentage of Black students was 15 or more percentage points greater than the TPS they exited Weiher & Tedin, 2002).…”

School choice & social stratification: How intra-district transfers shift the racial/ethnic and economic composition of schools

“…These divergent results are likely related to the school choice environment observed in each of the studies. To date, the current body of research places particular emphasis on stratification outcomes associated with voucher programs (Forster, 2006a,b;Greene et al, 2010;Greene and Winters, 2006), magnet schools (Archbald, 2004) and charter schools (Bifulco and Ladd, 2006;Frankenberg et al, 2010;Garcia, 2008). Each of these forms of school choice, however, is restricted to a small number of specialized schools, which often limits the degree to which all students can fully participate in choice.…”

Understanding site selection of for-profit educational management organization charter schools

“…In Equation 1, the manner of defining an appropriate choice set plays a decisive role in explaining what features stimulate individual EMOs to get involved in a particular market, which is expected to allow the maximization of profits. Some studies establish potential choice sets within a given mile radius from homes (Bell, 2009;Burgess, Greaves, Vignoles, & Wilson, 2011;Cobb & Glass, 1999), and a number of scholars identify a charter school's catchment area as the Census geographic units and school attendance boundaries to which the charter school belongs (Garcia, 2008;Ritter, Jensen, Kisida, & Bowen, 2016;Saporito & Sohoni, 2006;Sohoni & Saporito, 2009). Even though these technical approaches may be a simple and convenient method, they have impeded the progress of research on access to charter schools with non-residence requirements in competitive markets.…”