White Parents Searching for White Public Schools

Authors

Ezra Rosser, American University Washington College of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-27-2020

Journal

The Journal of Things We Like (Lots)

Issue

11

First Page

1

Last Page

2

Abstract

The New White Flight makes two significant contributions to our understanding of race and education. First, it argues that white parents chose to send their children to segregated, disproportionately white schools. This choice is reflected in white residential preferences for areas where "pricing-out mechanisms" ensure that the local school is disproportionately white. (P. 254.) This racially-motivated choice holds "even when school quality is controlled for, meaning that whites tend to choose predominately white schools even when presented with the choice of a more integrated school that is of good academic quality." (P. 236.) Second, it shows how charter schools give white parents a way to act on their preference for majority white schools even within school districts where only minority of students are white. Charter schools and other school choice programs, by enabling white parents to act on their general preference to avoid schools that are predominantly Black or Latino, facilitate the creation and maintenance of "white charter school enclaves" within larger diverse school districts. (P. 262.)

Recommended Citation

Ezra Rosser, White Parents Searching for White Public Schools, The Journal of Things We Like (Lots) 1 (2020).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2073