Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2024

DOI

10.1177/14782103241255431

Publication Title

Policy Futures in Education

Volume

in press

Pages

45 pp.

Abstract

District leaders in school choice contexts tend to overlook the many hidden costs of selecting schools in terms of mobility, time, liquidity, and labor. Meanwhile, a body of literature on school choice policies and cultural, social, and political capital shows that middle-class parents use the resources they possess to get the school access they want. In this study, I critically examine the complex interplay between school choice policies and forms of capital. This analysis extends our empirical understanding of the political dimensions of families’ school choices—the way parent resources, relationships, and strategies determine “who gets what, when, and how” (Laswell, 1936) in terms of schooling opportunities, and way these policies help structure disproportionate school access. By attending to families’ affordances of cultural, social, and political capital in studies of school choice, authorities may be more likely to design choice supports that address some demand-side inequities.

Rights

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Comments

This is the Accepted Manuscript Version of the following article:

Saltmarsh, J. E. (2024). Unwritten ground rules of school choice: Excavating capital as a regulator of access to educational goods. Policy Futures in Education, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241255431

ORCID

0000-0001-5580-2201

Original Publication Citation

Saltmarsh, J. E. (2024). Unwritten ground rules of school choice: Excavating capital as a regulator of access to educational goods. Policy Futures in Education, 0(0). [Author Manuscript Version]. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241255431

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