The Goals of a Voluntary Integration Program and the Problems of Access: A Closer Look at a Magnet School Application Brochure

Abstract

The article incorporates a critical theoretical and methodological framework to study a large urban district's implementation of a court-ordered voluntary integration program through magnet school choice. Drawing on the interview data from parents and district staff, the author analyzes the data as they relate to the district's magnet school application brochure, Opportunities for Success, and how the application is designed to support the voluntary integration program. The article first presents a short historical grounding for the district's voluntary integration program and how it influences the choice options for parents. Next, it discusses how the district implemented and organized the voluntary integration program and produced the magnet school application text. It then introduces data on parents' interactions with the magnet school brochure and application. The article concludes with a discussion of what can be learned from studying the texts of a voluntary integration program, what it tells us about racial and class privilege and diverse families' access to magnet school programs, and how text analysis can help us see where, in the institutional processes of school choice, further resegregation is likely to take place.