Shelley Mcdonough Kimelberg
Biographic Data
| ID | 4016139 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shelley Mcdonough Kimelberg |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shelley Mcdonough |
| FAMILY NAME | Kimelberg |
| SIGNATURE | KIMELBERG S M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University at Buffalo, State University of New York |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 215 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
How Classroom Economic Disadvantage and Social Class Attitudes Shape Parents’ Educational Preferences
Research indicates that income segregation is a significant problem in U.S. schools. Here, we investigate the role that parent preferences play in this phenomenon. We analyze experimental data from a sample of parents of young children to examine how the proportion of low-income students in a hypothetical classroom and parents’ social class attitudes influence preferences. We find that classroom economic composition affects parents’ preferences b…
The reception on campus
Don't Touch
Museums can provide valuable benefits for children, but children from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds are less likely to have exposure to such institutions. We draw on interviews with 52 low-SES parents to explore how perceptions of museums influence whether parents would consider bringing their children there. Respondents express a clear preference for enriching activities for their children. However, our findings reveal a tension between th…
Considering Small-City Gentrification
Zhe Zhang, Shelley M. Kimelberg, and Robert M. Adelman on underexamined urban change
We're gonna get you through it”
Many programs that place low‐income students of color in high‐achieving college preparatory high schools seek to nurture bridging social capital, connections across class lines that provide leverage in the process of “getting ahead.” Bonding social capital, which focuses more on emotional support and “getting by,” is frequently characterized as less useful for social mobility. Drawing upon in‐depth interviews with alumni from one such program, we…
The psychological determinants of classroom preferences
The opportunity for parents to select their children's school is both increasingly common and linked to school segregation in the U.S. Here, we investigate how race and racial attitudes shape parents' classroom preferences, which have direct implications for school choices. We measured the implicit and explicit racial attitudes of both White and Black parents (Study 1: N = 201; mean age = 35.46; 173 women, 28 men; 37 Black, 147 White) of preschoo…
In Search of a Safe School
Do school security policies affect how safe parents perceive schools to be, and do they influence parental choice behavior? We address these questions using data from a survey that asked U.S. parents to evaluate hypothetical schools whose security systems and student body racial composition were systematically varied, along with other school characteristics. Results indicate that parents identify schools with intensified security measures as less…
Identifying the Urban
What does the term “urban” signify as a descriptor of contemporary communities in the United States? We investigate this question using data from the Soul of the Community survey, examining how people within eight metropolitan areas characterize their communities. A substantial disjunction exists between where within their regions respondents live and how they describe those areas. Many central–city residents label their communities “suburban” or…
Opinion polling and the measurement of Americans’ attitudes regarding education
The meaning, measurement, and implications of ‘public opinion’ have long been a source of debate. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the educational priorities of elites in the US reflect the educational priorities of the American public. To do so, we focus on one particular segment of the education policy-making elite – education poll creators. Through a content analysis of questions asked between 1969 and 2013 in the Phi Delta Kappa/…
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Beyond Test Scores
The pursuit of high-quality schools for their children is one of the main factors motivating middle-class families to exit urban communities. This study draws on interviews with middle-class mothers in Boston who have opted instead to stay in the city to explore how they evaluated their local public elementary schools. Specifically, I examine how some middle-class mothers deploy their cultural capital in the process of embracing a choice that oth…
Labor needs, crime, and the business location decision
The reliance on econometric models in site-selection research limits what we can conclude about how decision-makers evaluate some common location factors. In an effort to open the "black box" of location decisions, this article makes use of in-depth interviews with corporate real estate managers and external service providers to illustrate how such actors serve as intermediaries in the site-selection process. The findings reveal that distinct way…
Middle‐Class Parents, Urban Schooling, and the Shift From Consumption to Production of Urban Space
Dominant approaches to the study of gentrification tend to attribute this process either to the production of urban space by elites or to the consumption of urban space by individual consumers. In this article, we take a preliminary step toward bridging this gap by illustrating how these groups may, in some cases, be the same actors. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with middle‐class parents in Boston, we explore the transitions that gentrifiers un…
Attitudes Toward Diversity and the School Choice Process
White flight from urban public schools has been well documented, but little attention has been paid to middle-class reinvestment in urban schools. This article combines findings from interviews with middle-class parents of Boston Public School students with demographic data from the city’s public elementary schools to examine the motivations of these parents and assess the potential ramifications of their decisions. While providing their children…
Inside the Growth Machine
The growth machine framework maintains that coalitions of elites work together to promote and adopt policies and practices that best serve their economic interests and propel cities toward growth. While numerous scholars have subjected the growth machine to theoretical and empirical tests, we know little about the beliefs and perspectives of individual actors within the growth machine. To address this gap in the literature, the present research u…
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Race Class, and Residence in Los Angeles by Camille Zubrinsky Charles
Attitudes Toward Diversity and the School Choice Process
White flight from urban public schools has been well documented, but little attention has been paid to middle-class reinvestment in urban schools. This article combines findings from interviews with middle-class parents of Boston Public School students with demographic data from the city’s public elementary schools to examine the motivations of these parents and assess the potential ramifications of their decisions. While providing their children…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Middle‐Class Parents, Urban Schooling, and the Shift From Consumption to Production of Urban Space
Dominant approaches to the study of gentrification tend to attribute this process either to the production of urban space by elites or to the consumption of urban space by individual consumers. In this article, we take a preliminary step toward bridging this gap by illustrating how these groups may, in some cases, be the same actors. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with middle‐class parents in Boston, we explore the transitions that gentrifiers un…
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
Beyond Test Scores
The pursuit of high-quality schools for their children is one of the main factors motivating middle-class families to exit urban communities. This study draws on interviews with middle-class mothers in Boston who have opted instead to stay in the city to explore how they evaluated their local public elementary schools. Specifically, I examine how some middle-class mothers deploy their cultural capital in the process of embracing a choice that oth…
Inside the Growth Machine
The growth machine framework maintains that coalitions of elites work together to promote and adopt policies and practices that best serve their economic interests and propel cities toward growth. While numerous scholars have subjected the growth machine to theoretical and empirical tests, we know little about the beliefs and perspectives of individual actors within the growth machine. To address this gap in the literature, the present research u…
In Search of a Safe School
Do school security policies affect how safe parents perceive schools to be, and do they influence parental choice behavior? We address these questions using data from a survey that asked U.S. parents to evaluate hypothetical schools whose security systems and student body racial composition were systematically varied, along with other school characteristics. Results indicate that parents identify schools with intensified security measures as less…
Identifying the Urban
What does the term “urban” signify as a descriptor of contemporary communities in the United States? We investigate this question using data from the Soul of the Community survey, examining how people within eight metropolitan areas characterize their communities. A substantial disjunction exists between where within their regions respondents live and how they describe those areas. Many central–city residents label their communities “suburban” or…
The reception on campus
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Race Class, and Residence in Los Angeles by Camille Zubrinsky Charles
Inside the Growth Machine
The growth machine framework maintains that coalitions of elites work together to promote and adopt policies and practices that best serve their economic interests and propel cities toward growth. While numerous scholars have subjected the growth machine to theoretical and empirical tests, we know little about the beliefs and perspectives of individual actors within the growth machine. To address this gap in the literature, the present research u…
Labor needs, crime, and the business location decision
The reliance on econometric models in site-selection research limits what we can conclude about how decision-makers evaluate some common location factors. In an effort to open the "black box" of location decisions, this article makes use of in-depth interviews with corporate real estate managers and external service providers to illustrate how such actors serve as intermediaries in the site-selection process. The findings reveal that distinct way…
Middle‐Class Parents, Urban Schooling, and the Shift From Consumption to Production of Urban Space
Dominant approaches to the study of gentrification tend to attribute this process either to the production of urban space by elites or to the consumption of urban space by individual consumers. In this article, we take a preliminary step toward bridging this gap by illustrating how these groups may, in some cases, be the same actors. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with middle‐class parents in Boston, we explore the transitions that gentrifiers un…
Attitudes Toward Diversity and the School Choice Process
White flight from urban public schools has been well documented, but little attention has been paid to middle-class reinvestment in urban schools. This article combines findings from interviews with middle-class parents of Boston Public School students with demographic data from the city’s public elementary schools to examine the motivations of these parents and assess the potential ramifications of their decisions. While providing their children…
Middle‐Class Parents and Urban Public Schools
Middle‐class flight from urban public schools to suburban districts or private schools is a key source of educational inequality. Recently, however, a number of studies have focused on middle‐class and upper‐middle‐class families who have made a different choice, opting to remain in the city and send their children to neighborhood public schools. While the movement of advantaged families into urban public schools has received positive attention i…
Beyond Test Scores
The pursuit of high-quality schools for their children is one of the main factors motivating middle-class families to exit urban communities. This study draws on interviews with middle-class mothers in Boston who have opted instead to stay in the city to explore how they evaluated their local public elementary schools. Specifically, I examine how some middle-class mothers deploy their cultural capital in the process of embracing a choice that oth…
Opinion polling and the measurement of Americans’ attitudes regarding education
The meaning, measurement, and implications of ‘public opinion’ have long been a source of debate. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the educational priorities of elites in the US reflect the educational priorities of the American public. To do so, we focus on one particular segment of the education policy-making elite – education poll creators. Through a content analysis of questions asked between 1969 and 2013 in the Phi Delta Kappa/…
Seeking a ‘critical mass’
A growing body of literature has begun to explore the individual identities, motivations, and school choices of middle-class, typically white, parents who choose to reside in socioeconomically and racially mixed central city neighborhoods. Drawing on qualitative research in three US cities, we argue that a focus on middle-class parents’ collective engagement in schooling is particularly important in under-resourced urban contexts. In these enviro…
Identifying the Urban
What does the term “urban” signify as a descriptor of contemporary communities in the United States? We investigate this question using data from the Soul of the Community survey, examining how people within eight metropolitan areas characterize their communities. A substantial disjunction exists between where within their regions respondents live and how they describe those areas. Many central–city residents label their communities “suburban” or…
In Search of a Safe School
Do school security policies affect how safe parents perceive schools to be, and do they influence parental choice behavior? We address these questions using data from a survey that asked U.S. parents to evaluate hypothetical schools whose security systems and student body racial composition were systematically varied, along with other school characteristics. Results indicate that parents identify schools with intensified security measures as less…
The psychological determinants of classroom preferences
The opportunity for parents to select their children's school is both increasingly common and linked to school segregation in the U.S. Here, we investigate how race and racial attitudes shape parents' classroom preferences, which have direct implications for school choices. We measured the implicit and explicit racial attitudes of both White and Black parents (Study 1: N = 201; mean age = 35.46; 173 women, 28 men; 37 Black, 147 White) of preschoo…
Considering Small-City Gentrification
Zhe Zhang, Shelley M. Kimelberg, and Robert M. Adelman on underexamined urban change
We're gonna get you through it”
Many programs that place low‐income students of color in high‐achieving college preparatory high schools seek to nurture bridging social capital, connections across class lines that provide leverage in the process of “getting ahead.” Bonding social capital, which focuses more on emotional support and “getting by,” is frequently characterized as less useful for social mobility. Drawing upon in‐depth interviews with alumni from one such program, we…
The reception on campus
Don't Touch
Museums can provide valuable benefits for children, but children from low socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds are less likely to have exposure to such institutions. We draw on interviews with 52 low-SES parents to explore how perceptions of museums influence whether parents would consider bringing their children there. Respondents express a clear preference for enriching activities for their children. However, our findings reveal a tension between th…
How Classroom Economic Disadvantage and Social Class Attitudes Shape Parents’ Educational Preferences
Research indicates that income segregation is a significant problem in U.S. schools. Here, we investigate the role that parent preferences play in this phenomenon. We analyze experimental data from a sample of parents of young children to examine how the proportion of low-income students in a hypothetical classroom and parents’ social class attitudes influence preferences. We find that classroom economic composition affects parents’ preferences b…
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (11 works) · Psychology (8 works) · School Choice and Performance (7 works) · Parental Involvement in Education (6 works) · Social science (6 works) · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies (6 works) · Critical Race Theory in Education (5 works) · Middle class (5 works) · Public relations (5 works)