School Choice in Suburbia: The Impact of Choice Policies on the Potential for Suburban Integration

The bulk of research on the implementation of school choice policies has focused on how choice has been implemented in urban school systems. As of 2007, however, suburban students comprised more than one fourth (29%) of all students engaging in some form of public school choice in the United States. This article examines the implementation of choice in suburban school districts that have been rapidly diversifying, with a focus on how school choice policy relates to-or has interacted with-levels of school segregation within the three districts under study. The findings illustrate how school choice policies, as designed and implemented in these three suburban school districts, have contributed to segregation in these contexts.