The Scarcity Loop: How School Choice Reshapes the Rationing of Public Education (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780871545299)

Champions of school choice, which allows families to enroll students in schools outside of their zoned residential school, argue that it levels the educational playing field. By loosening the central tether in American public schooling--the link between where children live and where they go to school--lower-income students with poorly funded "bad" neighborhood schools have a chance to attend more well-resourced "good" schools. But does a school choice system really live up to these claims? In The Scarcity Loop, sociologist Jennifer L. Jennings explores how families and schools navigate choice in New York City and whether it delivers on the promise of equality in educational opportunity.

Jennings argues that where there are more students than seats in good schools, it is impossible to supply a quality education for all students. Drawing on archival research, over 450 interviews, and participant observation, Jennings shows that school choice does not eliminate this scarcity, instead, it reshapes how public education is rationed. It creates a dual rationing system, in which families compete for scarce seats and schools compete for students. Students' selections are entered into an algorithm that purportedly fairly matches students to schools. But, in order to maintain their schools' reputations, principals strategically filter student admissions by having restrictive geographic priorities, academic screens, or admissions activities that need to be completed. While, in principle, choosing a safe and well-resourced school is straightforward, accessing one can remain out of reach for families without time, transit, language access, or institutional support.

Jennings contends that under a school choice system the labor of securing educational opportunity shifts from school districts to families. School districts are no longer seen as responsible for ensuring all schools can provide a quality education. Rather, school districts offload that responsibility onto families who must now navigate complex systems of admission criteria, applications, exams, school fairs, and open houses to ensure their student chooses and is accepted to a good school. Students must make school choices while navigating caregiving responsibilities, safety concerns, and transportation limitations. What may look like a poor school choice is often the byproduct of these constraints. Under the guise of choice, however, attending a lower quality school becomes an individual or family failure as opposed to an institutional one. Jennings acknowledges that raising the quality of all schools takes time, however, she asserts this must be a long-term goal for public school districts.

The Scarcity Loop skillfully shows the consequences of scarcity in public education on schools and families, and reveals how scarcity reproduces itself, even when reforms are sincere.

JENNIFER L. JENNINGS is the Class of 1988 Professor in Domestic Policy and Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University