BEYOND GOOD INTENTIONS: MOVING DIVERSITY-MINDED PARENTS FROM IDEALS TO ACTION

Abstract

Although most American parents express support for racially/ethnically diverse schools, U.S. schools remain highly segregated. This disconnect between stated values and enrollment behavior has often been attributed to implicit bias, but interventions targeting bias and attitudes directly have shown limited success in changing behavior. The present research takes a different approach, drawing on values-alignment theory to test whether parents’ pro-diversity values can be more reliably translated into behavior when diversity is reframed as instrumental to other valued goals, particularly academic success. Across two studies, we examine how parents prioritize racial/ethnic diversity in school choice and whether this prioritization is malleable. In Study 1, parents (N = 136; 78% White, 85% women, 72% with at least a bachelor’s degree) ranked factors influencing their school choices for their child. Although parents reported valuing diversity, they prioritized academic performance and special programming more highly when forced to make tradeoffs. Study 2 (N = 205; 100% White, 66% women, 61% with at least a bachelor’s degree) experimentally tested a values-alignment intervention with White parents who endorsed both racial/ethnic diversity and parental involvement. Compared with an active control, parents in the intervention condition were significantly more likely to choose racially/ethnically diverse schools in a hypothetical forced-choice task. Mediation analyses indicated the effect operated primarily through increased perceived value of diverse schools, rather than normative beliefs or enrollment efficacy. These findings suggest parents’ school-choice behavior can shift when diversity is framed as aligned with other priorities they hold, pointing to values-alignment as a more promising route than bias-focused approaches.