Unpacking the Racial Hierarchy in School Choices

Dr. Chantal A. Hailey is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research is at the intersections of race and ethnicity, stratification, urban sociology, education, and criminology. She is particularly interested in how micro decision-making contributes to larger macro segregation and stratification patterns and how racism creates, sustains, and exacerbates racial, educational, and socioeconomic inequality.

Her recent paper, Racial Preferences for Schools: Evidence from an Experiment with White, Black, Latinx, and Asian Parents and Students uses the New York City High School Admissions Process as a case study to understand how individual choices are shaped by race and racism. Employing experimental and quantitative methods, her study reveals the various ways that the racial demographics of a school influence the perceived desirability of that school across racial identities, as well as for students and their parents.

She joins Val and Andrew this week to discuss her research and expand the conversation beyond the Black/White binary.

LINKS:

• Racial Preferences for Schools – Dr. Hailey
• A NY Daily News OpEd about her research
• No Choice is The Right Choice – Dr. Linn Posey-Maddox
• Original research from Chase Billingham and Mathew Hunt on White parents’ preferences for schools

Join our Patreon to support this work, and connect with us and other listeners to discuss these issues even further.

Let us know what you think of this episode, suggest future topics, or share your story with us – @integratedschls on twitter, IntegratedSchools on Facebook, or email us hello@integratedschools.org.

The Integrated Schools Podcast was created by Courtney Mykytyn and Andrew Lefkowits.

This episode was produced by Andrew Lefkowits and Val Brown. It was edited, and mixed by Andrew Lefkowits.

Music by Kevin Casey.