Choice, Race, and Public Schools: The Adoption and Implemention of a Magnet Program

ABSTRACT:

Attention to the role of choice in American schools has shifted from its effect on the racial composition of the student body to its potential effect on the quality of education provided to students. This article focuses on the adoption and implementation of a series of elementary level magnet schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, as a means for identifying some of the political and organizational dynamics likely to accompany an expanded reliance on prochoice mechanisms. Implementation of choice options in public school systems, it is concluded, will entail more difficult trade offs, higher levels of conflict, and a more affirmative role for the public sector than is commonly presumed.