This article investigates how Michigan's charter school policy influences the composition of students by race and socioeconomic status in urban traditional public schools. Using 2 years of student-level data in Michigan' urban elementary and middle schools, the dynamic student transfers between charter schools and TPSs are analyzed through a…

Draws from the implementation of reform policies in Michigan to examine both the politics and political economy on the effects of schools as instruments for serving consumer preferences--a perspective referred to as instrumentalism. Contends that instrumentalism emphasizes individual private purposes and nonpublic forms of governance and…