Student Stratification among a Combination of School Choice Policies in Detroit

ABSTRACT

A large body of research on school choice has examined whether choice-based policies reproduce and exacerbate existing racial and socioeconomic inequalities. While many states have enacted multiple school choice policies at once, most of these studies focus on a single choice-based policy. This study examines enrollment patterns in Detroit in the context of a combination of school choice policies: charter schools, intra-district choice, and inter-district open enrollment. It assesses the extent to which Detroit students are stratified by race, socioeconomic status, and special education status, and describes how different socio-spatial push and pull factors may be associated with different options for school choice. Even among Detroit’s racially and socioeconomically homogeneous student population, the results show some evidence of a stratified educational landscape, and suggest the need for more research on how a combination of choice mechanisms may be taken up differently by different students and families.

KEYWORDS:

• Stratification
• urban education
• school choice
• socio-spatial analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The State of Michigan’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) indicates that a student is “economically disadvantage” if the student meets any of the following criteria: are eligible for free or reduced-price meals via NSLP, live in households receiving food (SNAP) or cash (TANF) assistance, are homeless, are migrant, or are in foster care.

2. This study excludes DPSCD’s “exceptional student education” centers, which are specifically designated to serve special education students with particular exceptionalities. In other words, even when excluding DPSCD’s exceptional student education centers, non-assigned DPSCD schools still have an oversubscription of special education students compared to other school types.