Disempowering Marketplaces: How School Choice Enrollment Routines Legitimize Educational Inequality

As school choice increases, parents are expected to act like consumers choosing from a school marketplace. However, to what extent do parents understand and enact this new role? Drawing on organizational theory, we examine the mismatch between the ostensive (ideal) and performative aspects of the school choice enrollment routine. Analyzing interviews with 136 parents in Chicago, we found that only a small minority perform the enrollment routine as officially envisioned (i.e., researching and applying to multiple schools). Instead, most parents know little to nothing about the enrollment routine. Further, even “educated consumer” parents feel disempowered by the routine. We argue that in a context of deep structural educational inequality, the current enrollment routine works to deflect responsibility onto individual parents.