Attitudes Toward Diversity and the School Choice Process: Middle-Class Parents in a Segregated Urban Public School District. (March 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kimelberg, Shelley McDonough; Billingham, Chase M.
• Is Part Of: Urban education. Volume 48:Number 2(2013)
• Page Start: 198
• Page End: 231
• Publication Date: 2013-03
• Subjects: diversity -- race -- school choice -- urban; Education, Urban -- Periodicals; Enseignement en milieu urbain -- Périodiques; Éducation; Milieu urbain; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 370.91732
• DOI: 10.1177/0042085912449629
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0042-0859

Abstract

White flight from urban public schools has been well documented, but little attention has been paid to middle-class reinvestment in urban schools. This article combines findings from interviews with middle-class parents of Boston Public School students with demographic data from the city's public elementary schools to examine the motivations of these parents and assess the potential ramifications of their decisions. While providing their children with a diverse school environment is a major consideration for these families, the process by which they select schools may, in the aggregate, contribute to an increase in racial segregation across the district as a whole.