No Quick Fix: Experimental Evidence on Whether School Safety Information Mitigates Anti-Black Perceptions and...

Race-based discrimination and segregation are persistent realities in the United States. Theories of biased stereotypes and statistical discrimination suggest that increasing information could counter racialized beliefs, choices, and resulting inequalities. This study examines whether increased school safety information alters anti-Black school evaluations through a survey experiment with 1,125 non-Black parents. Participants evaluated school profiles with randomized racial demographics, with some respondents receiving school safety information. Results demonstrate that non-Black parents perceived Black schools as less supportive, more violent, and academically weaker than otherwise similar White, Asian, and Latine schools. They also preferred to enroll their students in White, Asian, Latine schools over Black schools. Importantly, providing additional information about school safety, on average, did not alter parents' anti-Black beliefs about schools nor their desires to avoid Black schools. However, this aggregate null effect obscures important heterogeneity: safety information partially attenuated racialized beliefs for some demographic groups but amplified anti-Black beliefs among others. Results suggest that providing information may not be enough to fully curtail the racial biases and stereotypes that underlie racialized evaluations and segregation.