School Counselors’ Assessment of the Legitimacy of High School Choice Policy

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with 88 middle school counselors tasked with implementing New York City’s high school choice policy, we show that counselors largely question the policy’s legitimacy and the equity of the high school assignments it produces. By highlighting issues of transparency and procedural fairness that threaten counselors’ acceptance of school choice policy, we offer lessons for policymakers and practitioners about how policy design and communication affect policy legitimacy and, as a result, implementation.