New Experimental Evidence on Anti-Asian Bias in White Parents’ School Preferences

Abstract

Existing research has found evidence of widespread anti-Asian bias in the United States, yet limited work has examined whether anti-Asian biases affect parents’ school preferences. In this article, using a conjoint experiment, we examine White parents’ views on schools with varying percentages of Asian students. We find that respondents strongly prefer schools with fewer Asian students, and we examine potential mechanisms that may explain these preferences. We do not find evidence that our results are driven by academic stereotypes. Instead, participants anticipated less student-level “fit” and less “commonality” with parents at schools with larger Asian populations, in line with past research on anti-Asian bias and stereotypes. Our findings extend existing literature on race and school choice and speak to the importance of addressing anti-Asian discrimination in U.S. educational settings.