The study reveals how the model minority myth may motivate school choice decisions.
Getty Images: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc
When parents are deciding which schools are best for their children, they consider a multitude of factors such as reputation, safety, curriculum, and class size. One of the most influential factors is demographics, as parents tend to favor schools with a student majority whose race is the same as their children’s.
In a recent study, researchers interviewed Asian American parents to determine how ideas about diversity and racial attitudes influence their choice of schools. They found that participants favored schools with greater numbers of Asian American students, citing beliefs consistent with the model minority myth, suggesting that Asian students have stronger educational values and a stronger work ethic than other non-white groups. They also cited concerns about discrimination.
“Research shows that school integration can decrease academic gaps between racial groups, reduce prejudice, and increase social cohesion,” says senior author Adriana Villavicencio, assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at NYU Steinhardt. “However, these policies often fail when they don't account for parent buy-in. By highlighting the voices and perspectives of parents who are typically underrepresented in education research, this study seeks to understand the factors that support or undermine efforts to create more equitable school systems.”
Researchers interviewed 34 parents in a large, urban school district with a school ranking system who identified as Asian American, and whose children were entering kindergarten, sixth grade, or ninth grade. These participants were a subset of a larger sample of 1,865 parents applying for schools in the 2022–2023 school year who completed a survey about their choices.
For this study, the parents answered questions related to their personal backgrounds, familiarity with the district’s enrollment policies, school selection, and their decision-making processes in ranking their preferred schools. Interviews were conducted in English or Mandarin, based on the parents’ preferences.
By highlighting the voices and perspectives of parents who are typically underrepresented in education research, this study seeks to understand the factors that support or undermine efforts to create more equitable school systems.
Their findings, published in Harvard Educational Review, revealed that approximately 80 percent of the parents identified demographics as one of their top priorities, with 29 percent preferring schools in which Asian students comprised half or more of the population, 35 percent avoiding schools with at least 25 percent Black or Latine students, and 12 percent preferring both.
The authors also found that while more than half of the parents indicated that diversity was important in schools, they expressed different concepts of diversity. High-income parents (earning more than $150,000 a year) characterized diversity as an environment with students from varied races and backgrounds, while low- and middle-income parents described diversity as environments that reflected their racial backgrounds.
“In light of the complex histories and dynamics between different racial groups, including the model minority myth which can be used as a racial wedge, we argue that school districts should create opportunities for cross-racial dialogues wherein communities can share their lived experiences and hopes for their children, potentially surfacing shared visions for their school system,” says Villavicencio.
This research was coauthored by Tiffany Wu (lead author) and Verenisse Ponce-Soria, doctoral candidates at the University of California, Irvine. This study was funded by the William T. Grant Foundation.
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