Open Choice Program Analysis

The Open Choice Program is a Connecticut-based program through which suburban schools host students who reside in urban areas. Students in Open Choice apply for a limited number of seats in hyper-segregated White high schools. If accepted, students are bussed from the urban setting to the suburban school district. Suburban school districts view this program as a primary effort to reduce racial, ethnic, and economic isolation. The following excerpt from the 2013-14 Granby Memorial High School Strategic School Profile is a representative sample of this effort, “GMHS has participated in Project Choice since its inception, with 19 Hartford students participating during 2012-2013. Hartford students enjoy the same opportunities as Granby students.”

Based on our discussions with principals and review of the narrative data, we determined that the students participating in Open Choice are Minority students who are subject to racial, ethnic, and/or economic isolation. Therefore, the Open Choice program provides racially isolated Minority students the opportunity to interact with hyper-segregated White students. However, the number of students participating in the Open Choice Program is a small fraction of the overall student population. It is unclear from the narrative data and discussions with the principals if and how Open Choice students interact with the hyper-segregated White student body, and how many White students benefit from this interaction. Therefore, due to the limited number of Open Choice students, we conclude that the Open Choice Program does not provide opportunities for all hyper-segregated White students to interact with students from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic

This would be true if the number of Open Choice students created parity between White and Minority students. However, the limited number of seats that hyper-segregated White school districts offer non-resident Minority students maintains hyper-segregation in the White schools, which inhibits robust and sustained interactions between White and Minority students. Furthermore, there is a distinct possibility that the Open Choice Program has a negative impact on the process some White students undergo while developing a concept of other. Because the number of Minority students participating in the Project Choice Program is so small, the program does not provide all hyper-segregated White students meaningful and sustained opportunities to interact and develop relationships with the Open Choice students. As a result, while many White students may be aware of the Open Choice Program, see Open Choice students in the school, and occasionally interact with Open Choice students in informal settings such as the library, hallway, or cafeteria, the limited interaction may reinforce an inaccurate sense of otherness. There is the distinct possibility that White students who do not regularly interact with Open Choice students will begin to view Open Choice students as “those kids” who are