Hispanic, English Learner, and Low-Income Parental Magnet Middle School Choice in a Majority Hispanic California Community

Abstract

Prior research suggests that parents of Hispanics, English learners, and students living in poverty exercise school choice less frequently than other parents, which may be a factor in the resegregation of public schools. This quasi-experimental, causal–comparative design tests whether ethnicity, language dominance, or socioeconomic status of the student are related to the exercise of parental choice of magnet middle school programs in a majority, minority community. The primary finding was that in this Hispanic, English learner, low-income majority California community, none of the independent variables studied predicted the exercise of parental magnet school choice. The discussion compares these findings with prior studies and suggests some possible explanations.