Seeing Color in School Choice

Abstract

Research across states has consistently shown that African American parents tend to send their children to charter schools with higher concentrations of African American students as compared to the concentrations of the district-assigned schools their children would otherwise attend. However, little research has addressed why these parents choose these schools. The present case study begins to fill this void in the literature by exploring the following research question: Why have African American parents chosen to enroll their children in one predominantly African American (> 95%) charter school. Parents’ choice of this school was not a “color-blind” one. Parents were impressed with the school’s welcoming atmosphere, its small setting and classroom sizes, and its high number of African American faculty members. Parent participants reported feeling comfortable with school staff and feeling assured that their children would be loved, respected, and cared for by school personnel. Their beliefs and preferences should be contextualized with the understanding that African Americans have and continue to be victims of racial discrimination and hatred in the United States. Study participants’ preference to have their children in the charge of other African Americans, their higher degree of comfort in the presence of other African Americans, and their beliefs that White teachers are less capable of truly understanding African American children may come as a result of racism and racist interactions in predominantly White schools as well as broader American society.