It Was Just Me and the Book: Understanding How Students Navigate the NYC School Choice Process

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: Although the New York City Public School system is a free choice system on paper, in reality access is limited by the complexity of the school choice process. The resulting inequality is disproportionately borne by low income students of color in New York City neighborhoods who face the sometimes tacit school choice procedures. This research aims to understand the range of experiences of low income Black and Latinx students in New York City in understanding and navigating the public school admissions system. In semi-structured interviews, I questioned seven students about their educational experience of selecting a high school in New York City and how those experiences were shaped by the levels of information or resources that were available to them. I focused on what kind of support the students received in their respective middle schools. Overall I found that students themselves develop a critique of systemic inequities and cultivate strategies for responding to these disparities. Additionally, the term “school choice” is deceptive since many students are unable to exercise choice. Thus, while schools are often popularly imagined as spaces of opportunity for upward socioeconomic mobility, they are in fact deeply reproductive contexts characterized by systematic disparity and exclusion.

Type of resource	text
Date created	2019

Author	Arboleda, Britanny Maribel
Advisor	Rosa, Jonathan Daniel

Subject	Graduate School of Education
Subject	school choice
Subject	New York City education
Subject	educational inequality
Subject	low income school
Subject	student choice
Subject	eighth grade
Subject	high school
Subject	public school
Subject	guidance counselor
Subject	high school
Subject	specialized high school
Genre	Thesis

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/qt653ds0939

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC BY).

Preferred Citation: Arboleda, Britanny M. (2019). It Was Just Me and the Book: Understanding How Students Navigate the NYC School Choice Process. Unpublished Honors Thesis. Stanford University, Stanford CA.

Undergraduate Honors Theses, Graduate School of Education

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