CULTURAL CAPITAL AND SCHOOL CHOICE PARTICIPATION: WHO CHOOSES WHAT? EVIDENCE FROM THE HIGH SCHOOL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF 2009

Abstract

This study examines the role of parental cultural capital as it pertains to whether a student attends a chosen school and whether the quality of the school a student attends is a function of cultural capital. Three theory-based factors representing cultural capital and three factors that represent facets of school quality were created using principal components analysis. Logistic regression was used to determine that cultural capital does play a role in whether a student attends a chosen school. In fact, one aspect of cultural capital, institutional engagement, is the strongest predictor of whether a student attends a chosen school. Linear regression models shed light on the role that different forms of cultural capital and choosing may play in the quality of school that the student attends. While the results are complex, I am able to conclude that cultural capital and choosing do play a role in the quality of school that a student attends, but community and school district characteristics, as well as parental socioeconomic status may play a stronger role. Models control for student and school district characteristics and school clustering effects. Suggestions for future research and implications for policy are discussed.