Reply to Study on DC school lottery and school segregation

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think this is natural for anyone- don't you want your kid to go to a school where there's a sizable population of kids of their same race? All things being equal? I think any parent - black, white, etc., would choose that.[/quote]

Good point.  You're not a racist for not wanting your child to be a "lonely only."  If only 10% of the school is your child's race, then in a class of 18 students, there's only 8/10ths of another child that looks like him.
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I'm the poster who quickly read the actual study (free to download!).  The study authors make this same point, and have nice graphs showing how white parents in DC are less likely to choose a school with very low percentages of white students (ie, the lonely only), but once the level of white students reaches some level, their preference disappears.  The study authors even suggest that white parents in DC might be less likely to pick a school that's too white, perhaps because they value diversity more.

FWIW, knowing the DC schools, I suspect this specific change in preference the authors highlight has more to do with the specific schools involved and their reputations.  In general, at least from my cursory look, it appears the race preference results are fairly inconsistent and disorganized.  I'm no expert, and I've only quickly read the study once, but it seemed to me that even though the authors studied racial preferences as one of their possible factors (and obviously Slate hyped that part of the study), the numbers on race didn't seem to be the real driver on school choice.  If I had to guess, the real driver on school choice in the DC lottery system is the local reputation of the school.  Parents who are motivated enough to participate in the lottery are generally aware of the reputation of schools they're selecting.  Those subjective reputations come from discussions with friends and neighbors.  The reputation of a school doesn't always match the cold numbers on academic performance or other qualities.  So I think the disorganized results the researchers saw is a reflection of the fact that they were studying the "wrong" variables, or at least variables that weren't really driving the decisions of lottery participants.[/quote]

But reputation aboslutely turns on race.  Otherwise you can't explain Banneker and Howard MS.  As well as all the parents who deem a neighborhood ES to be "improving" by dint of white enrollment (and no other changes whatsoever.) Really, all you have to do is read DCUM to understand the racial aspects of white DC parent preferences. [/quote]

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