Parent Choice and Inequality

One form of parental involvement in a child&s;s education is choice of a school. Many parents exercise choice of their children&s;s schools as part of deciding where to live—;;in what part of the city, in which suburb, in which neighborhood. This chapter examines which parents take advantage of school choice opportunities in either the public or private sectors and what effect expanded choice might have for increasing equality of educational opportunity for disadvantaged students. A major question regarding school choice concerns the effect expanded choice will have on inequality of educational opportunity. In elementary schools, there is a little choice among public schools, other than through choice of residence. The constraints on attending private school are quite different from those on public school choice. Cost of attending a private school is the greatest constraint. Unlike public school choice, the constraints on private school choice include financial cost as well as availability of a private school.