In this interview study, we utilize a theoretical framework that combines Bell's theory of choice sets with DisCrit to explore how parents of students with IEPs (SIEPs) experienced a forced school choice embedded with the 2013 mass school closures in Chicago. We find that a child's disability was a primary factor in parent's choices. Further, all…

Childcare instability can negatively affect family well- being. Yet not all childcare changes are bad for families. This qualitative study (N = 85) examines work, family, provider, and subsidy- related factors contributing to childcare changes among families with low incomes. We focus on the desirability--the extent to which parents wanted to…

As sound changes advance across large geographic areas, they progress unevenly across populations. The speakers who lead these changes often share macro-social identities, like place or social class affiliations (e.g. Nesbitt 2018; Wagner et al. 2016). But the features undergoing these macro-level sound changes also hold social meanings related to…

School choice research is abundant, but rarely incorporates students' experiences or perspectives. This study investigates a diverse group of students' school choice experiences as they applied to, gained admission to and enrolled in high school in Chicago Public Schools, which offers over 130 options. Adapting Ball and colleagues' (2012) concept…

Background: The United States does not have a comprehensive, publicly funded early care and education (ECE) system. As a result, disparities in access and participation in quality ECE in the U.S. are well-documented. Low and middle-income families participate less frequently in ECE compared with higher-income families, often due to conflicts with…

Chicago Public Schools (CPS)--like many school districts--faces challenges. These include declining enrollment, budgetary pressures, pandemic-associated learning losses, and the need to staff schools with educators and administrators who can meet the diverse needs of students and families. CPS is also grappling with a changing policy environment.…

While parents of students with disabilities (SWD) select schools according to various factors, schools also choose students through different sorting mechanisms. Thus, parents of SWD may need to employ different strategies to enroll their child in their preferred school. We employed an intersectional approach for studying school choice,…

In the current article, we examine the long-run school selection patterns of children randomly assigned to the Chicago School Readiness Project, an early childhood educational (ECE) intervention that aimed to improve the quality of Head Start classrooms serving low-income communities. Analyses suggest that adolescents who participated in the…

Scholars have long acknowledged that the information parents have about schools is the "Achilles' heel" of school choice. Although much has been written about school choice, far less is known about the information disseminated to help families make choices. I construct a case study of the dissemination and accessibility of choice…

This article analyses the narratives and counter-narratives which characterised the struggle between the Chicago Public School Board (CPS) and the Chicago Teachers' Union (CTU) preceding the 2019 Chicago teachers' strike. This was an extraordinary event which has received little scholarly attention. The paper explores the types and uses of the…

In Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Spanish Dual Language (DL) programs are caught up in a school choice paradigm, marketed by schools as special features by which to lure prospective families. Out of concern that this approach does not position schools to serve the full breadth of Latina/o/x students, who possess the social, cultural and linguistic…

This article chronicles a community coalition's efforts to revitalize a "failing" school, the Walter H. Dyett High School in Chicago. It tells the story of one group of people fighting to keep a school open and, moreover, to see it reflect their vision for their community and their children's education. We see that this community's…

Unified enrollment systems have become increasingly popular because they facilitate public school choice, streamline burdensome application processes, and ideally increase equity, but there are pros and cons to these systems for charter schools and in general. Our report, "Unified Enrollment: Lessons Learned from Across the Country,"…

In cities where public charter schools serve a large share of students, the costs of ongoing sector divisions and hostility across district and charter lines fall squarely on students and families. Exercising choice and accessing good schools in "high-choice cities" can be difficult for many families, especially some of the most…

Background/Context: Prior research overlooks the importance of drawing distinctions within the category of defaulters or "nonchoosers" in schooling choices. Defaulters are both a theoretically and empirically interesting population, and understanding the processes by which families come to or are assigned the default school offers…