The Illusion of Choice: Is School Choice an Option for Black Students in the Twin Cities?

By Don Allen, Journal of A Black Teacher (Academic Editorial Opinion, if such a thing exists. Postmodernism says yes—there are no rules using this writing style.)

Minneapolis, Minn...School choice has been described as a panacea for most of the varied and numerous challenges students go through in the American system of education over the past few years. Proponents indicate that school choice enhances competition, empowers parents, and leads to better student learning outcomes. On closer scrutiny, though, it is not a political or educational choice for students of color in the Twin Cities area. It enhances already existing inequities and undermines actions toward more significant equity in education.

The Illusion of Choice
The very notion of school choice assumes that as soon as parents have the right to decide where their children will go to school, all children will gain access to good schooling; this is not true; this is fundamentally incorrect. Indeed, one message from a decade of school choice research is that it often increases segregation and inequality. According to Frankenberg et al., 2010, the policies of school choice have the potential to further racial and economic segregation in schools by giving more-resourced families an opportunity to move their children to presumably better schools, leaving those with fewer resources behind. In the Twin Cities, where already glaring racial and socioeconomic chasms exist, school choice is making things worse - in most cases, Black parents are not getting the step-up in learning for their children in local charter schools. The MCA test scores, according to the Minnesota School Report Card, show an agreement with my thesis (and the data) that over 90 percent of 3rd and 4th-grade scholars in local charter schools are in the 0-10 percentile in core subject matter (reading, math, and science).  Are these learning organizations inadvertently creating their own personal pipeline to prison? 

The Impact
School choice for students of color in the Twin Cities does not translate into improved learning opportunities. Often, it means attending underfunded charter or private schools that lack any form of accountability. On the subject, a report from UCLA's Civil Rights Project has discovered that charter schools are more racially isolated than normal public schools. This isolation will eventually relieve them of the much-needed diversity and expose them to varied perspectives—the constituents necessary in working together for the holistic development of the student. Furthermore, most charter and private schools do not offer similar comprehensive support services compared with traditional public schools. Students of color are more likely to come from low-income backgrounds and thus often rely on these services, like free or reduced-price lunch programs or mental health support. Not having such support in place in many choice schools creates a major disadvantage for students of color despite the promise of better educational outcomes.

One critical issue of school choice is that it takes funding away from traditional public schools. On the other hand, could the money going back to traditional public schools close the education gap? 

Public schools in the Twin Cities are, as is so often the case in other urban areas, underfunded. Students leaving those schools for charter or private options take funding with them, thereby creating a financial burden on public schools left behind. This drains resources, making it increasingly difficult for public schools to offer quality education to the remaining students. According to Darling-Hammond (2018), funding should be equitable to address the achievement gap. The diversion of funds to choice schools undermines this effort.

The desire for school choice is often compelled more by political agendas than it is by concern for educational equity. Some prominent advocates for school choice in this respect include policymakers and philanthropists who desire to see the privatization of education achieved through the lessening of government involvement in public schooling. This political agenda forgets the problems that students of color currently face in the Twin Cities and overlooks solutions rooted in education strategies grounded in equity and inclusion, opting instead to follow those based on the market system.


According to Kozol, meaningful educational reform has to include the communities it serves, not just some top-down solutions that have caused too many systemic problems to count.

Building an Equitable Education System
It should instead be strengthening traditional public schools and dealing with deeper issues of inequity in education: equitable funding, culturally responsive teaching, and comprehensive support services. For instance, throughout the Twin Cities metropolitan area, a Community School model that embeds academics within health and social services has risen as an approach to construct greater inclusiveness and support for the learning conditions of students of color.

Teacher training and professional development are also indispensable in building a system of education that believes in being diverse and concerned with justice. In this approach, teachers have a pivotal role in setting students' experiences and need to be adequately armed to meet the needs of a diverse range of learners. It is by prioritizing these strategies that we will get an educational landscape truly serving all students rather than continuing to perpetuate disparities that school choice exacerbates.

School choice is not a political or educational option for the Twin Cities students of color. It does not mend the systemic inequities underlying the education system but deepens preexisting chasms. We should focus on enhancing traditional public schools, promoting equity in funding, and creating spaces for communities to engage in the reform process. Thus, to provide high-quality education, we need to address the issues not only at the top of the problem tree but also at its root. Only then would that be possible.

References

Darling-Hammond, L. (2018). The flat world and education: How america's commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press.

Frankenberg, E., Siegel-Hawley, G., & Wang, J. (2010). Choice without equity: Charter school segregation and the need for civil rights standards. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

Kozol, J. (2005). The shame of the nation: The restoration of apartheid schooling in america. Crown.

Maier, A., Daniel, J., Oakes, J., & Lam, L. (2017). Community schools as an effective school improvement strategy: A review of the evidence. Learning Policy Institute.

Orfield, G., Ee, J., Frankenberg, E., & Siegel-Hawley, G. (2016). Brown at 62: School segregation by race, poverty, and state. The Civil Rights Project at UCLA.