Choosing Predominantly Black Magnet Schools: The Importance of School Racial Composition in Parental Decision-Making

Abstract

ABSTRACT Does school racial composition influence where parents choose to send their children to school? This paper contributes to the literature on school racial composition and parental choice by examining the reasons parents give for enrolling their children in predominantly Black magnet schools. We use data from a survey of parental school decision-making that was administered in one countywide, Southeastern school district in the 2002–03 school year. The survey data was collected a few years after the district’s release from its court desegregation order as Black students comprised an increasing share of magnet school enrollments. As such, we are able to assess parental decision-making at a critical time point in which school racial composition may have been an especially prevalent factor in where parents were choosing to enroll their children. We find that parents of White children only mentioned school academic quality in their discussions of magnet school choice. In contrast, parents of Black children mentioned that the joint combination of academic quality and racial composition of magnet schools was important in their school selection process. Specifically, Black parents expressed that the predominantly Black and high-achieving school environment of magnet schools provided their child with the opportunity to succeed academically among students of a similar racial background while experiencing less race-based discrimination and comparisons.