Description/Abstract
Using evidence from Durham, North Carolina, we examine the impact of school choice programs on racial and class-based segregation across schools. Theoretical considerations suggest that how choice programs affect segregation will depend not only on the family preferences emphasized in the sociology literature but also on the linkages between student composition, school quality and student achievement emphasized in the economics literature. Reasonable assumptions about the distribution of preferences over race, class, and school characteristics suggest that the segregating choices of students from advantaged backgrounds are likely to outweigh any integrating choices by disadvantaged students. The results of our empirical analysis are consistent with these theoretical considerations. Using information on the actual schools students attend and on the schools in their assigned attendance zones, we find that schools in Durham are more segregated by race and class as a result of school choice programs than they would be if all students attended their geographically assigned schools. In addition, we find that the effects of choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by race.
Document Type
Working Paper
Date
2008
Keywords
Racial segregation, School choice
Language
English
Series
Working Papers Series
Disciplines
Public Economics
Recommended Citation
Bifulco, Robert; Ladd, Helen F.; and Ross, Stephen, "Public School Choice and Integration: Evidence from Durham, North Carolina" (2008). Center for Policy Research. 58.
https://surface.syr.edu/cpr/58
Source
Metadata from RePEc
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Additional Information
Working paper no. 109
Harvest from RePEc at http://repec.org