Articles on School choice

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School choice gives families options, but not all families necessarily have the same ones. Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock via Getty Images Plus

School choice proponents say it offers families more options – but those don’t always extend to immigrant students

School choice heavily influences immigrant students’ experiences in Charleston schools and can leave them in segregated academic environments, new findings show.
A mother leads her 7- and 9-year-old sons in a morning lesson during homeschool in Buffalo, Minn., in September 2023. Nicole Neri for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The lasting appeal of homeschooling: What motivated families to continue after schools reopened post‑pandemic

Homeschooling trends are on the rise, bucking the narrative that most of its growth was caused by the pandemic.
Surveys suggest growing support for school choice, such as in Ohio, even as voters reject such policies in referendums. AP Photo/Samantha Hendrickson

Trump order boosts school choice, but there’s little evidence vouchers lead to smarter students or better educational outcomes

Research suggests school choice programs have little effect on student achievement but worsen overall outcomes by draining money from cash-strapped public school systems.
Patterns of segregation may repeat if parents continually choose schools like the ones they attended. SDI Productions via Getty Images

Parents tend to choose their children’s schools based on their own educational experience

Parents who had positive experiences in school often select schools for their children that are similar to the ones they attended – but if they had a bad experience they avoid those kinds of schools.
School choice policies have positioned schools as existing in a free market of schools, but parents and guardians have different amounts of ‘educational currency’ or privilege when choosing programs. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

French immersion and other regional learning programs: Smart choice for your kids, or do they fuel inequity?

In a study, teachers who are parents acknowledged programs of choice separate students into cohorts labelled strong and weak, yet many continue to secure spots for their own children.
Montessori education encourages split grades, and as a school with low enrolment numbers, it already had teachers teaching multiple grades in a single class. (Shutterstock)

How one small school in B.C. became a public elementary Montessori school

Building trusting relations among teachers, parents, a community and school administrators is important when schools enter decision-making processes about programs of choice.
A new study found that graduates of publicly funded schools were more likely to disagree with statements such as ‘discrimination is no longer a major problem.’ (Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages)

Why attending publicly funded schools may help students become more culturally sensitive

A study finds that graduates who attended publicly funded schools were more likely to have open intercultural orientations than those who attended private schools.
Racial bias may play a role both in the schools that families choose for their children and the experiences their children have. Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Desegregating schools requires more than giving parents free choices – a scholar studies the choices parents of all races make

Inspired by her own experience with the education system, a professor of sociology explores how race and racism influence school choice and education.
Charter school enrollment reportedly grew 7% during the pandemic. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

Why charter schools are not as ‘public’ as they claim to be

Charter school enrollment grew during the pandemic. But behind these schools’ rising popularity is a history of harsh discipline, inaccessibility and targeted marketing.
Education reformer Howard Fuller has worked with GOP leaders in support of school vouchers. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images

How civil rights activist Howard Fuller became a devout champion of school choice

Howard Fuller’s support for school choice is connected to the Black Power movement and a pursuit to provide Black students a quality education by any means necessary.
Advocates of ‘school choice’ are often talking about wanting public funding for models like charter schools, but specialized programs should also be considered part of school choice debates. (Shutterstock)

‘School choice’ policies are associated with increased separation of students by social class

Letting parents choose which school their child attends positions parents as consumers, and often diverts students and funding away from public schools.

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