In this article, I examine a case involving an equity-minded parent caught in a quandary about which school to select for her child, knowing that her decision may have consequences for others. To do so, I heuristically construct a fictional portrait and explore the deliberative process a parent might have through a dialogue taking place among…

School choice policy in China aims to achieve educational equity by limiting school choice. Synchronous Admission Reform (SAR hereafter) is a recent school choice reform in China, which continues to limit parents' autonomy and strengthen the equal distribution of school resources. This study explores Chinese middle-class parents' (n = 21) justice…

China has witnessed significant growth in the number of children affected by internal rural-urban migration. These children predominantly suffer from educational inequalities. Most relevant studies have primarily attributed such inequalities to "hukou"-based exclusion. However, the active agency of rural migrant parents in their…

School choice has influenced several educational reforms in the US and across the world in the last decades. These reforms have often promoted school autonomy, parental choice, and competition between schools to improve quality and equity. Whether those reforms work in practice is well examined, but the roles of policy design such as the extent to…

In 2016, the Chilean Ministry of Education implemented the new School Admission System (SAS) designed with the goal of equalizing access to schools for the most disadvantaged families and reduce educational segregation. Yet it is not clear if the SAS is sensitive to socio-cultural minorities and their particular conditions. Hence, in this article…

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.…

The prevailing argument for school choice in metropolitan cities has been that children from economically disadvantaged communities need opportunities to access better quality schools than the traditional public schools assigned to them based on their address. However, as these cities experience gentrification, more economically advantaged parents…

Multiple studies have shown the potential for school choice policies to benefit middle-class families, often to the detriment of lower income students in the same district. Yet, there is limited research examining the role of policies in promoting inequality by encouraging exclusionary behaviors. In this article, we utilize the concept of…

This article examines the experiences of parents of students with disabilities when they shop for schools in Stockholm. It looks at the motivations behind school choice, the kinds and sources of information used and the constraints that parents encounter in the school choice process. The results, based on interviews with parents, demonstrate…

As cities across the country experience an influx of White and middle- to upper-class residents, new opportunities for the integration of urban schools emerge. Yet crucial challenges persist even when equity and inclusion are a focus for new stakeholders. This article explores the story of a largely White group of parents committed to investing in…

Recent research suggests that high-stakes standardized testing has played a negative role in the segregation of children by race and class in schools. In this article we review research on the overall effects of segregation, the positive and negative aspects of how desegregation plans were carried out following the 1954 Supreme Court decision…

This study explores four instances where parental choice has been employed as a legal "circuit breaker": (a) First Amendment Establishment Clause cases related to public funding, (b) Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection cases regarding race-conscious student assignment, (c) Title IX regulations concerning single-sex education, and (d) a…

School choice in China is a parent-initiated bottom-up movement characterised by the payment of a substantial "choice fee" to the desired school, and parents' positional competition through the use of cultural, social and economic capital, before and during the school choice process. This study demonstrates that Chinese middle class…

School choice has been actively exercised by mostly middle class parents and "key" schools in many places in China, each obtaining what they want: school places and funds, respectively. The aims of this study were to explore the impact of positional competition in school choice and explore the effect of market mechanisms in the resulting…

Background: In contrast to the top-down government-designated school choice programmes in many countries, e.g. in the UK and USA in particular, school choice in the Chinese context is a bottom-up movement initiated by parents and is characterised by the payment of a substantial "choice fee" to the preferred school, and by competition by…