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ABSTRACT
This article reviews the literature evaluating the impact of school choice programs on racial integration. Evidence on the impacts of magnet schools, voluntary busing programs, open enrollment practices, charter schools, and voucher programs is reviewed. The literature is mixed on this question, finding that the impacts of choice on racial integration are highly context-specific and varies across regions and type of choice.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Interracial exposure reflects the percentage of White students in the average Black student’s school. Higher values correspond with higher levels of integration, while lower values correspond to lower levels of integration.
2. Racial imbalance was measured with the index of dissimilarity, which ranges from 0 to 1. The index measures the degree to which a school differs from the racial composition of the district. For example, if a school is 99% Black, and the district is 99% Black, the district would have a score of 0, indicating it was perfectly similar. If the school were 99% Black, and the district were 1% Black, it would have a score of nearly 1, indicating it was practically perfectly dissimilar.
3. Each study is counted once to avoid double-counting of effects. For example, the Koedel et al. (Citation2009) study is counted once as finding that district choice plans increase integration, although the study found positive impacts of both magnet schools, open enrollment, and voluntary busing on racial integration.
4. Included sites were Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia, Denver, Milwaukee, and the states of Ohio and Texas. The same study included Florida in an analysis of the academic impacts of charter attendance.
