| Title: |
The Double Burden of School Choice. Technical Report |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Huriya Jabbar; Hanora Tracy; Emily Germain; Sarah Winchell Lenhoff; Jacob Alonso; Shira Haderlein; National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH) |
| Source: |
National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice. 2025. |
| Availability: |
National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice. 1555 Poydras Street Suite 700, New Orleans, LA 70112. Tel: 870-540-6576; e-mail: info@reachcentered.org; Web site: https://reachcentered.org/ |
| Peer Reviewed: |
Y |
| Page Count: |
64 |
| Publication Date: |
2025 |
| Sponsoring Agency: |
Institute of Education Sciences (ED); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH) |
| Contract Number: |
R305C180025; P2CHD042849 |
| Document Type: |
Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires |
| Education Level: |
Elementary Secondary Education |
| Descriptors: |
School Choice; Parents; Administrative Organization; Barriers; Educational Policy; Low Income Groups; African Americans; Hispanic Americans; Experience; Learning; Compliance (Psychology); Psychological Patterns; Elementary Secondary Education |
| Geographic Terms: |
Louisiana; Michigan; Colorado (Denver); Louisiana (New Orleans); Michigan (Detroit) |
| Abstract: |
School choice policy shifts the responsibility of accessing high-quality schools from the state to parents, yet there is little research on how parents subjectively experience the burdens of choosing schools. In this case study, we conducted interviews and focus groups with 36 parents attending traditional public, charter, and private schools across six school districts in Colorado, Louisiana, and Michigan, to examine bureaucratic hassles in choice policy. We outline the administrative burdens of choice policies, and how local policy design influenced the costs parents experienced. Despite policy efforts to improve equity and access in school choice, families dealt with uncertainty and waiting periods and ultimately felt disempowered by the process. School choice, we argue, placed a "double burden" on low-income Black and Latinx families, through the learning, compliance, and psychological costs of choosing, as well as the burden of responsibility for their child's educational success. |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| IES Funded: |
Yes |
| Entry Date: |
2025 |
| Accession Number: |
ED672425 |
| Database: |
ERIC |