School Choice & the Social Construction of Term Paper

School Choice & the Social Construction of School Quality

In this article, Jennifer J. Holme explores how parents, who re-locate their homes for getting access to "higher quality" schools for their children, approach their choice of school. The author also seeks to understand the beliefs of such parents about what constitutes a "good and a "bad" school. Her research consists of interviews with forty-two selected parents who had used their financial resources to buy homes in school districts where they thought the best schools were located.The research reveals that the decisions of most parents in selecting or rejecting schools for their children are not based on knowledgeable information about the quality of schools and their choice is almost always based on information gathered from other parents in their social networks consisting of "high status," "high income" parents. The author concludes from her research that the parents give more credence….....