How Classroom Economic Disadvantage and Social Class Attitudes Shape Parents’ Educational Preferences

Research indicates that income segregation is a significant problem in U.S. schools. Here, we investigate the role that parent preferences play in this phenomenon. We analyze experimental data from a sample of parents of young children to examine how the proportion of low-income students in a hypothetical classroom and parents’ social class attitudes influence preferences. We find that classroom economic composition affects parents’ preferences but only at high levels of disadvantage. The desire to avoid classrooms with a substantial share of low-income students persists even in high-performing, majority-White classrooms. Furthermore, both implicit and explicit measures of classism influence classroom desirability, suggesting that parents’ preferences reflect, in part, individual biases and not solely concerns about material resources in low-income schools. Finally, the effect of classroom disadvantage on preferences is stronger for high-SES than low-SES parents. We discuss the implications of these findings for addressing income segregation in the context of school choice.