- Schools in Durham are more segregated by race and class as a result of school choice programs than they would be if all students attended their geographically assigned schools
- The effects of choice on segregation by class are larger than the effects on segregation by race
- Student and family background characteristics do not have strong effects on the decision to opt out at the elementary school level, with the exception that among White students those with college educated parents are about 11 percent more likely to opt out of the assigned school than others
- At the middle school level, high achieving students are more likely to opt out than low achieving students
- At the middle school level, among students with a college educated parents, Black students are also slightly more likely to opt out than otherwise similar White and Hispanic students
- The further a student lives from his or her assigned school, the more likely the student is to opt out
- A 10 point increase in the percent Black in the assigned attendance zone increases the average White students likelihood of opting out by 5.7 percent
- Estimates for White, middle school students (third column) indicate that a 10 point increase in the percent Black in the assigned attendance zone increases the likelihood of opting out by 11.2 percent
- Among elementary school students with a college educated parent, an increase of 10 points in the percent of students with college educated parents in the zone is associated with a 9.3 percent reduction in the likelihood of opting out
- Among middle school students a 10 point increase in the percent college educated is associated with a 23.4 percent decrease in the likelihood of opting out
- Black students are less likely to make racially segregating choices than White students at the elementary school level, but not necessarily at the middle school level
- Among students in grades 3 through 5, Black students are almost twice as likely as White students to make integrating moves– 10.9 percent of Black students and only 5.9 percent of White students; however, Black students are also slightly more likely than White students to make racially segregating moves
- At the elementary level, the isolation of both Black and White students is higher as the result of choice programs than they would be if all students attended their assigned school, and at the middle school level the isolation of White students is higher than under the counterfactual