Information seeking behavior of the poor: the study of parents’ school choice decisions
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/GKMC-12-2017-0111 |
| Date | 03 September 2018 |
| Published date | 03 September 2018 |
| Pages | 377-395 |
| Author | Shimelis G. Assefa,Mary Stansbury |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Information in society,Information literacy,Library & information services |
Information seeking behavior of
the poor: the study of parents’
school choice decisions
Shimelis G. Assefa and Mary Stansbury
Department of Research Methods and Information Science, University of Denver,
Denver, Colorado, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to investigate information seeking behavior of immigrants in
disadvantagedcommunities in the state of CO, USA, using school choice decisions as a problematicsituation.
The study investigated the extent to which immigrant families in poor neighborhoods took advantage of
school choicepolicies and the extent to which these decisions were mediated by informationseeking activities.
Design/methodology/approach –Quantitative studyusing survey questionnaire was used. The study
design used everyday life information seeking behavior (Savolainen, 1995) and information-poverty lived-
experiences of poor people (Chatman and Pendelton,1995) as a framework and theoretical lens, respectively.
Parents of school-age children who met the criteria of “poor”based on the federal poverty guideline were
recruitedto participate in the study.
Findings –The study found that only 21 per cent (24 families out of 113) participated in school choice
programs. Within the smaller group of parents that took advantage of school choice policy, 72 per cent
gathered informationbefore choosing a school, and of this group, about 80 per cent asked friends followedby
school visit anda phone call to schoolsas information sources. Library use as sources of informationwas also
selected by 61 per cent of the respondents.One important finding of this study is that although a majority of
the families are aware of school choicepolicy, their level of participation is low and that is largely due to their
economicand life circumstances.
Social implications –Access to quality education is widely investigated and multiple entities have a
stake in it, including parents, policymakers, researchersand school districts. The social implications of this
study are significant in that the mere presence and awarenessof school choice policy did not translate into
increased participation by parents from disadvantaged communities for whom the policy was designed to
benefit. Consistent with findings in the extant literature, parents in low socio-economic status also value
quality education for their children.To address the issue of low participation in school choice, cities need to
work toward strengtheningschools and library systems in poor neighborhoodsinstead of diverting resources
away.
Originality/value –Based on two theoretical accounts –i.e.the information-poverty lived-experiences of
poor people, or the outsiders, (Chatman, 1999,1996), and theory of everyday life information seeking
(Savolainen, 1995)–this study investigated how immigrants and disadvantaged communities seek, acquire
and use information to navigateschool choice policy in the city of Aurora, CO. The findings of this study are
relevant for educators, policymakers, libraries, school districts,cities, counties and parents to determine the
necessary policy measures that are required to increase school choice participation by immigrants and
disadvantagedcommunities.
Keywords Information services, Information seeking behavior, Disadvantaged community,
Immigrant families, Poor parents, School choice policy
Paper type Research paper
Introduction and background
School choice is a significant decisionparents make for their school-age children. Choosing a
school is often challenging due to the multitude of options available and because of several
Information
seeking
behaviour of
the poor
377
Received24 December 2017
Revised12 April 2018
4June2018
Accepted6 June 2018
GlobalKnowledge, Memory and
Communication
Vol.67 No. 6/7, 2018
pp. 377-395
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2514-9342
DOI 10.1108/GKMC-12-2017-0111
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2514-9342.htm
other daily life situations that intervene in the decision-making process. Thus, to make the
best decision that fits their own situation, parents have to navigate multiple factors and
understand the different issues and policies surrounding school choice. In addition, each
factor has complex sub-factors such as the availability of resources at the disposal of
parents (Jones-Sanpei, 2008),the challenge to find relevant and useful information (Bulman,
2004), the numerous school characteristics to take into account such as students’scores on
achievement tests, teacher quality, school reputation, class size, distance and safety
(Walberg, 2007), parental and public opinion and value attached to education (Maddaus,
1990) and even market forces (Hastings, Weelden, and Weinstein, 2007). These complex
factors increase the difficulty of choosingthe right school for a child. It could be argued that
parents can navigate this complex landscape and make sense of the whole situation when
they are able to seek, find and use relevant information.
In the context of this study, while school choice options are available to all families
regardless of their socio-economic status (SES), when one considers information seeking
characteristics and decision-making behaviors found in immigrant and disadvantaged
communities, the school choice task gets more complicated (Chatmanand Pendleton, 1995).
There is a growing interest in and widespread adoption of school choice policy as an
effective way of ensuring that families have access to quality education for their children
(Grady, Bielick, and Aud, 2010). This paper seeks to investigate the information seeking
behavior of families in one impoverished neighborhood and immigrant communities in
Denver metro area, Aurora, CO. The extent to which parents in this communityparticipate
in school choice and whether they seek, acquire and use information to inform their
decisions is thepurpose of this study.
According to the National Household Education Survey that compiles K-12 enrollment
trends in US public and private schools, school choice is defined as “either student
enrollment in a chosenpublic school (where parents reported that the student’s publicschool
was chosen rather than assigned) or as student enrollment in a private school (religious or
nonsectarian)”(Grady, Bielick, and Aud, 2010, p.4). Although American families with
adequate resources at their disposal have enjoyed school choice options by sending their
children to schools of their choosing or by relocating to neighborhoods where desired
schools are available, the option for low-income families, especially in the public school
system, was not availableuntil about the 1960s (Schneider, Teske, and Marschall, 2000).
One of the core tenets of school choice policy is the notion that low-income families will
have more choices to access high-quality education that otherwise is difficultto achieve due
to cost and other associated reasons(Holme, 2002). This is not only beneficial for low-income
families by increasing access to qualityeducation but also an incentive for schools to strive
to achieve academic excellence (Hastings, Weelden, and Weinstein, 2007). Today, school
choice options have expanded and,according to the National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES) report, in 2012, the parents of 37 per cent of all 1-12th-grade students indicated that
public school choice was available to them, and 13 per cent of the students in traditional
public schools were in a school chosen by their parents rather thanan assigned (Snyder, de
Brey, and Dillow, 2016). The availability of choice options together with federal disclosure
acts (such as the Every Student Succeeds Act) that allow parents to know the state of their
child and school’s performance have empowered parents to make an informed decision,
including, transferring to non-failing schools if their children are performing poorly (USA
Department of Education,2015;Walberg, 2007).
Based on data that were compiled over a 14-year period from 1993 to 2007, there is an increase
in the percentages of K-12 students enrolled in schools away from assigned public schools
(Grady et al.,2010). Table I (aggregate data extracted from Grady, Bielick, and Aud, 2010,
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