ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we sketch out the school choice terrain, describe the role of race in school choice, and offer examples of race-conscious school choice policies leaders should consider that can assist in fostering not just racial diversity at a compositional level, but ensure equitable and culturally responsive opportunities for all students are extended to the classroom level as well. While school choice policy is not new, it has expanded and grown in popularity in recent years and has become central to the federal education policy agenda. In a political context that is threatening the very existence of public education, school leaders must be attuned to how racialized market-based policies like school choice reify racial inequity. Following the discussion on school choice, we provide specific examples of ways in which districts are implementing school choice policies that are framed within an equity framework with the goal of providing instruction in racially diverse classrooms.
