Reassignment Policies and School Stratification

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  • Author(s): Hammond, Robert G. (ORCID Hammond, Robert G. (ORCID 0000-0002-9315-1232); Wu, Sui
  • Language:
    English
  • Source:
    Educational Policy. Sep 2022 36(6):1373-1406.
  • Publication Date:
    2022
  • Document Type:
    Journal Articles
    Reports - Research
  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://sagepub.com
    • Peer Reviewed:
      Y
    • Source:
      34
    • Subject Terms:
      School Choice; Student Placement; Social Stratification; Magnet Schools; Transfer Students; Public Schools; Equal Education; Attendance Patterns; Socioeconomic Status; Race; Student Needs; Academic Ability; School Desegregation; School Policy
    • Subject Terms:
      North Carolina
    • Accession Number:
      10.1177/0895904820964745
    • ISSN:
      0895-9048
      1552-3896
    • Abstract:
      School choice is expanding, but the majority of students in countries like the United States still attend the school associated with their residential address. We study assignment policies and reassignments of students, where students apply to attend a magnet school or request to transfer to another school within the public school system. Policymakers and researchers have expressed concerns that these type of reassignment programs could increase racial and socioeconomic stratification and cause an imbalance of resources across schools. We provide evidence from the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina. Our focus is on changes in racial and socioeconomic stratification across schools relative to the existing degree of stratification that exists in the district through its assignment via schools' attendance boundaries. The reassignment programs available in this district reduce stratification in terms of race, socioeconomic status, student need, and student ability. To place our results in context, we conduct several simulations to compare the observed changes in stratification to what changes are possible. The effects on stratification are similar to what would be expected if students move between schools without regard to school composition, and the effects are small relative to the largest increases or decreases in stratification that could be expected given the volume of reassignments observed in these data. Thus, the reassignment programs we study do not increase stratification in terms of race, socioeconomic status, or student need/ability, but they also do not reduce stratification to a particularly large degree. Our results speak to school choice programs that can be characterized as controlled choice programs in which the district places constraints on moves between schools.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • Publication Date:
      2022
    • Accession Number:
      EJ1347580