PARENTAL CHOICE OF SCHOOLS AND SOCIAL-STRATIFICATION IN EDUCATION - THE PARADOX OF DETROIT

Within the contexts of families and school districts, we investigate t he effect of parental choice of schools on social stratification in ed ucation. We focus on Detroit, one of the few U.S. cities without a maj or choice plan (1991). Using multilevel methods to analyze data from 7 10 household heads in 45 Detroit-area school districts, results showed that minority and disadvantaged respondents, especially from the city , favor choice. We concluded that access to low-quality schools-measur ed either by respondents' perceptions or resource levels for school di stricts-motivates positive opinions toward choice. We discuss the pote ntial effects on the Detroit public schools of an interdistrict choice plan, suggesting that choice would further stratify an already highly inequitable distribution of social, economic, and academic resources around education in the Detroit area. We question the individualistic premise undergirding arguments favoring choice.