Understanding School Choice: Location as a Determinant of Charter School Racial, Economic, and Linguistic Segregation

The author analyzes the revealed school preferences of parents in the Washington, D.C., and asks, "What is the main determinant of charter school choice and how does it create racial, economic, and linguistic segregation?" The author first establishes a theory of choice, which incorporates past research and adds an additional variable to our understanding of school selection-school location. Through a multivariable regression, the author tests the new proximity variable against other possible determinants and finds that parental preference for neighborhood schools significantly correlates with racial segregation. The results indicate that school-choice markets, as they currently exist, reinforce the de facto segregation patterns found in urban neighborhoods.