To protect and to prepare: Black mothers’ school-selection decision-making

ABSTRACT

As school choice policies continue to become more prevalent nationally and internationally, educational scholars are interested in understanding how parents make school selection decisions. Existing studies of parental educational decision-making mainly explore how white, middle-class parents make educational decisions. There is limited research on the criteria Black parents, specifically Black mothers, prioritize when selecting schools for their children. This study draws on in-depth interviews with five Black mothers to explore the factors they consider when choosing schools for their elementary-aged children within a school choice context. Findings show Black mothers in this study prioritize factors to protect their children from racism and prepare them for racist practices embedded in American institutions and society.

KEYWORDS:

• Race
• gender
• Black mothers
• Black feminism
• school choice
• positionality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Schools participating in the statewide private school choice voucher program receive a state aid payment for eligible students on behalf of the student’s parent or guardian. Student eligibility is established by state law and varies for each program. Student eligibility is a combination of student residence, income and prior year attendance. There is also an age requirement that must be met for grades K4, K5, and 1.

2. All references to the city, school, and participants are pseudonyms.

3. BAEOis a non-profit group supporting school voucher and charter programs in the United States. The groups’ mission was to actively support parental school choice to empower families and to increase quality educational options for Black children.

4. This word has painful historical and contemporary connotations. I directly quote the mother’s use of this word for two reasons. One, to not diminish the lived realities of Black students’ experiences with racism in schools. Two, in an effort to respect Kelly’s sentiments around her son’s experience.