When Merit Shifts: The Impact of Changes to Admissions Policies in Selective Public Schools

This project investigates how changes in school admissions policies affect perceptions of merit. The study examines the impact of a change in admissions policy that increased the representation of historically underrepresented groups in selective public schools. The project examines both the possibilities and perils of shifts to more inclusive systems of selection, particularly in organizations with a history of exclusion. The policy change studied in this project has the potential to assist efforts to provide more equitable access to high-quality secondary education. This study investigates how changes to admissions policies in selective public schools affect students’ and teachers’ experiences, behaviors, and attitudes. The project focuses on two schools in a city that shifted its admissions policy, now placing students in socioeconomic tiers based on their neighborhoods’ socioeconomic status. The shift in policy dramatically changed the demographic make-up of one of the city’s selective public schools but not another. The investigators conduct participant observation and 160 in-depth interviews with educators and students in both schools, evaluating impacts on students' experiences and feelings of belonging and on teachers' behavior and pedagogy. The project pays particular attention to demographic differences and to differences between students admitted before and after the changed admissions policy. The study also draws comparisons across the two schools to understand the extent to which a changing composition shapes ideas about deservingness of admission. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.