Parental Preferences for Charter Schools in North Carolina: Implications for Racial Segregation and Isolation

This descriptive study by Helen F. Ladd and Mavzuna Turaeva documents the role of parental preferences in charter school choice and how those preferences affect racial segregation. The authors examine the school choices of students who switch from a traditional public school to a charter school in North Carolina. They find White students switch from traditional public schools to charter schools with a lower percentage of students of color (defined here as students who are not White and not Asian) than the students’ previous schools. On the other hand, students of color switch to schools that have similar demographics to the schools they attended before. This implies White students’ transfers to charter schools increase school segregation.