Interdistrict Choice Beyond the Classroom: Transfer Student Challenges in Selecting and Attending Suburban Schools of Choice

Abstract

Interdistrict transfer is the largest form of school choice in the United States, yet little is understood about how students experience these programs on an individual level. This thesis uses two sets of semi-structured interviews of recent Michigan high school graduates to investigate how families make decisions about school choice in a regional context and subsequently what challenges central city transfer students face in suburban educational environments. The first subject group consists of former students from a central city community who transferred to suburban public schools through Michigan’s interdistrict Schools of Choice program. The second group consists of former students who remained in the central city district throughhigh school. Based on my results, I argue that we must add complexity to our understanding of interdistrict choice in three specific ways. First, we must acknowledge and analyze the dynamic agency that students share with parents in making decisions about where to attend school. Second, central city transfer students in suburban interdistrict choice programs encounter significant social and emotional challenges as a result of their transfer. Finally, where the needs of transfer students diverge from the needs of residential students on the basis of racial, socioeconomic, and geographic differences, I find that transfer students receive inadequate institutional support from their chosen suburban schools.