Constructing Choice Sets at the Intersections of Disability, Race, Class, and Geographic Location

This paper examines how parents of students with disabilities from different social classes, racial backgrounds, geographic locations, and developmental stages construct school choice sets. Using an intersectional approach, we integrate ethnographic interviews and descriptive Geographic Information Systems to examine factors parents consider and how their perceptions are influenced by social background, geographic location, and their child’s developmental stage. We identify three profiles: (a) working-class parents transitioning children into kindergarten, (b) working-class high school parents of students with disabilities requiring specialized support, and (c) middle-class parents seeking high-achieving schools. These profiles demonstrate how disability, race, class, and geographic location interact to shape parents’ rationalizations for considering some schools over others, revealing multiple degrees of privilege and disadvantage that shape parents’ construction of choice sets.