School Choice Strategies at the Intersections of Disability, Race, Class, and Geography - Article

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca

School choice involves not only parental decision-making for students with disabilities (SWD), but also school-level sorting mechanisms that influence access to desired placements. Using an intersectional framework, the study combines ethnographic interviews with descriptive GIS to address what enrollment strategies parents use and how social and geographic context shapes engagement. Five strategies are identified: accepting IEP team recommendations, securing placement via a sibling, testing into selective enrollments, changing IEP provisions, and engaging in due process, all constrained by intersecting race, class, disability position and the child’s school-transition stage.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Research questions

Strategies identified

How social and geographic context shapes engagement

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 32 Number 26 May 7, 2024 ISSN 1068-2341 | | School Choice Strategies at the Intersections of Disability, Race, Class, and Geography Federico R. Waitoller The University of Illinois at Chicago United States & Christopher Lubienski Indiana University, Bloomington United States Citation: Waitoller, F. R., & Lubienski, C. (2024) . School choice strategies at the intersections of disability, race, class, and geography. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 32(26) . [https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8273](https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.32.8273) Abstract: While parents of students with disabilities (SWD) select schools according to various factors, schools also choose students through different sorting mechanisms. Thus, parents of SWD may need to employ different strategies to enroll their child in their preferred school. We employed an intersectional approach for studying school choice, integrating ethnographic interviews and descriptive GIS to answer the following questions: (a) What strategies do parents of SWD utilize to secure placement in the school of their choice? and (b) How is the engagement with such strategies shaped by their social and geographical locations? We found that parents engaged in five strategies: Accepting an IEP Team ’s school recommendations, securing placement through a sibling, testing into selective enrollments, changing IEP provisions, and engaging in due process. Moreover, these strategies were afforded and constrained by their intersecting social positions (i.e. , race, class, and disability), their geographical locations, and the developmental school stage of their child (i.e. , transitioning to kindergarten or high school) . Keywords: school choice; students with disabilities; urban special education Estrategias para la elección de escuela: Un análisis situado en la interseccion de discapacidad, raza, clase y localidad geográfica Resumen: Si bien los padres de estudiantes con discapacidades (EcD) seleccionan las escuelasevaluando varios factores, las escuelas también eligen a los estudiantes a través de diferentesmecanismos selectivos. Por lo tanto, padres de EcD necesitan emplear diferentes estrategias para inscribir a sus hijos en su escuela preferida. Empleamos un enfoque interseccional para estudiar la elección de escuela de padres de EcD, integrando entrevistas etnográficas y análisis geográficos descriptivos para responder las siguientes preguntas: (a) ¿Qué estrategias utilizan los padres de EcD para asegurar la matrícula en la escuela que prefieren? y (b) ¿Cómo influye la ubicación social y geográfica de los padres en la utilización de las estrategias para asegurar lamatrícula en la escuela deseada? Descubrimos que los padres utilizaron cinco estrategias: aceptar las recomendaciones escolares del equipo psicopedagógico, asegurar la matrícula através de un hermano, realizar evaluaciones en escuelas con inscripciones académicamente selectivas, cambiar el plan educacional del estudiante e iniciar un proceso jurídico con un arbrito parcial. Además, estas estrategias estaban influenciadas y limitadas por las posiciones sociales de los padres (es decir, raza, clase y discapacidad), sus ubicaciones geográficas en al ciudad y la etapa escolar de desarrollo de su hijo (es decir, la transición al jardín de infantes ola escuela secundaria) . Palabras-clave: elección de escuelas; estudiantes con discapacidades; educación denecesidades especiales en zonas urbanas Estratégias para escolha escolar: Uma análise situada na interseção de deficiência, raça, classe e localização geográfica Resumo: Embora os pais de alunos com deficiência (EcD) selecionem as escolas avaliandovários fatores, as escolas também escolhem os alunos através de diferentes mecanismos deseleção. Portanto, os pais de DPI precisam de empregar estra

FAQs

What research questions does the study address about school choice for students with disabilities?

It asks what strategies parents of SWD use to secure placement in their preferred school, and how their social and geographical locations shape engagement with those strategies.

Which strategies do parents use to obtain placement in preferred schools?

Parents engage in five strategies: accepting IEP team recommendations, securing placement through a sibling, testing into selective enrollments, changing IEP provisions, and engaging in due process.

How do intersecting social positions and geography influence these strategies?

The strategies are afforded and constrained by parents’ intersecting social positions (race, class, disability), their geographical locations, and the child’s developmental school stage (e.g., transitioning to kindergarten or high school).

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by acoobca