“To Be Strict on Your Own”: Black and Latinx Parents Evaluate Discipline in Urban Choice Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 1896-1929
Author(s):  
Joanne W. Golann ◽  
Mira Debs ◽  
Anna Lisa Weiss
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Rule Following ◽  
Local School ◽  
Student Autonomy ◽  
Montessori Schools ◽  
Choice Schools

The proliferation of urban “no-excuses” charter schools has been justified by arguing that Black and Latinx parents want strict discipline. In this article, we examine what discipline means to Black and Latinx families at two popular choice options: a no-excuses charter and two public Montessori magnets. We found that parents viewed discipline as more than rule-following, valuing also self-discipline and academic discipline. While no-excuses parents supported an orderly environment, many found the discipline restrictive. Parents in the Montessori schools, by contrast, praised student autonomy but questioned whether the freedom was preparing their students academically. Our findings reveal a gap between what Black and Latinx parents want and what choice schools and local school choice markets have on offer.

A broader conception of school choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-13
Author(s):  
Sigal Ben-Porath
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Educational Choice ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
American Life ◽  
Private Interests

Historically, debates about educational choice have wrestled with big, unresolved tensions that lie at the heart of American life, having to do with individual rights, community obligations, public and private interests, religious freedoms, and more. But in recent years, school reformers have tended to talk about choice as though it referred only to vouchers and charter schools, which provide benefits to a small number of individual children, while doing precious little for the larger community. Further, these approaches leave the greatest amount of choice in the hands of affluent parents, who are able to choose their schools by moving to exclusive neighborhoods. Vouchers and charter schools do nothing to address this imbalance.

A Look Back: Taking stock of public school choice in Kappan

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Teresa Preston
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Public School ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Alternative Schools ◽  
Private School ◽  
Magnet Schools ◽  
Public School Choice ◽  
Look Back

In this monthly column, Kappan managing editor Teresa Preston explores how the magazine has covered the questions and controversies about school choice. Although many authors across the decades objected to the use of vouchers to pay private school tuition, those same authors lent support to the idea of choice among public schools. Advocates of public school choice have endorsed various models for providing choices, from alternative schools, to magnet schools, to charter schools.

Creaming Versus Cropping: Charter School Enrollment Practices in Response to Market Incentives

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Lacireno-Paquet ◽  
Thomas T. Holyoke ◽  
Michele Moser ◽  
Jeffrey R. Henig
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
School Enrollment ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Public School Systems ◽  
Special Education Needs ◽  
Cream Skimming ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Student Composition

Proponents of school choice present market-based competition as a means of leveling disparities between race, class and performance in public school systems. Opponents see school choice as threatening to exacerbate this problem because competition for students will pressure individual schools into targeting students with the highest performance and the least encumbered with personal and social disadvantages. We suggest that some charter schools, by background and affiliation, are likely to be more market-oriented in their behavior than others, and test the proposition that market-oriented charter schools engage in cream-skimming while others disproportionately serve highly disadvantaged students. Comparing student composition in market-oriented charter schools, nonmarket-oriented charter schools, and traditional public schools in Washington, DC, we find little evidence that market-oriented charters are focusing on an elite clientele, but they are less likely than the other two types of schools to serve some high need populations. Rather than skimming the cream off the top of the potential student population, market-oriented charter schools may be “cropping off” service to students whose language or special education needs make them more costly to educate.

scholarly journals School choice or the politics of desperation? Black and Latinx parents of students with dis/abilities selecting charter schools in Chicago

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico R. Waitoller ◽  
Gia Super
Keyword(s):  
Urban Education ◽  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Space Race ◽  
Spatial Restructuring ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Neoliberal Restructuring ◽  
Analytical Tools ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

In this paper, we focus on the city of Chicago to examine how Black and Latinx parents of students with dis/abilities engage with school choice. Using analytical tools from grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and a theoretical lens informed by critical notions of space, race and dis/ability, we analyze interviews with parents of students with dis/abilities, field notes, and various artifacts from charter schools (e.g., student handbooks and websites). We found that parents engaged with the politics of desperation (Stovall, 2013): an assemblage of thoughts and rationales to make school decisions amid poor and ableist educational options for Black and Latinx students with dis/abilities. We found that the neoliberal restructuring of urban education space was a driving force shaping parents’ engagement with the politics of desperation. Thus, our study sheds light on the relationship between race, dis/ability, and urban spatial restructuring.  

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

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Frankenberg ◽  
Stephen Kotok ◽  
Kai Schafft ◽  
Bryan Mann
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
White Students ◽  
Latino Students ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Racially Diverse ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Educational Environments ◽  
Level Student

Using individual-level student data from Pennsylvania, this study explores the extent to which charter school racial composition may be an important factor in students’ self-segregative school choices. Findings indicate that, holding distance and enrollment constant, Black and Latino students are strongly averse to moving to charter schools with higher percentages of White students. Conversely, White students are more likely to enroll in such charter schools. As the percentage and number of students transferring into charter schools increases, self-segregative school choices raise critical questions regarding educational equity, and the effects of educational reform and school choice policies on the fostering of racially diverse educational environments.

scholarly journals The Effect of Charter School Legislation on Market Share

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 66
Author(s):  
Simona Kúscová ◽  
Jack Buckley
Keyword(s):  
School Choice ◽  
Charter Schools ◽  
Charter School ◽  
Market Share ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Improve Performance ◽  
Funding Sources ◽  
Enhance Efficiency ◽  
Using Data

Many proponents of school choice use the claim of the market’s capability to enhance efficiency and improve performance to call for its expansion. But no markets are perfectly competitive, and the local market for public goods is filled with institutional arrangements that make it differ from the neoclassical ideal. In this paper, we look at a particular institution—the provisions of charter school legislation—and assess how it affects the ability of charter schools to gain market share. Using data from the 36 states that had passed charter legislation by 2000, and controlling for a variety of other factors, we estimate a model of the effects of various provisions in the charter laws on charter school market share. We find that two such provisions, one concerning the sponsorship of charters and another their funding sources, appear to have a strong effect on the market share of charter schools.

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