There is fierce controversy in the United States over whether parents should be able to choose their children's schools and/or curriculum. To discuss the pedagogical arguments inherent in this question, Todd Alan Price and Ruprecht Mattig begin with the classical concept of "Bildung" as developed by Wilhelm von Humboldt around 1800.…

This community-based research study examined the perspectives of African American parents of middle-class economic status who participated in a social network pertaining to school choice decisions during the pandemic era of virtual schooling. Their residency and school choices emerged against the grain of urban schools that have racially charged…

This community-based participatory research study examined the perspectives of parent participants in an organized parent network in Detroit seeking the best school options for their children entering Kindergarten within city boundaries. Their residency and school choices have emerged against the grain of public schools that have racially charged…

School choice has become an increasingly available option for families in the United States. Given the current political climate, music educators must better understand the various dimensions of the school choice movement and how it may affect the music classroom. Following a brief history of school choice, this article offers a look at the…

This study examines parental choice preferences following the introduction of the Free Schools policy in England. It reports on two phases of data collection: first, the analysis of factors that Free School and non-Free School parents reported as important in informing their choices; and, second, findings from semi-structured interviews with…

Homeschooling only has become a choice for many families of gifted children during the last two decades, as the number of gifted families has grown steadily along with the general homeschool population (Lubienski, Puckett, & Brewer, 2013). The current study examines a group of homeschooling mothers of gifted children who publish and maintain…

The concept of school choices has been historically referenced as options in educational philosophies, learning theories, curriculum designs, and program structures. Throughout time, "schools of choice" were defined by areas such as the Three Rs, the progressive movement of student-centered self-selected interest topics of study, classical…

Islamic education of children is a common problem faced by Muslims living in western, European and other developed countries as minority. It can be due to a number of factors such as unavailability of Islamic schools at a particular location, lack of enough number of students to warrant opening a full-fledged Islamic school, curriculum legislated…

"Hybrid home schools" are schools in which students attend school with other students for 2 or 3 days per week in traditional classroom settings, and are homeschooled the balance of the week. This exploratory study presents self-reported reasons parents choose these schools, using an electronic survey of parents from four such schools…

This research explores the proliferation of a newer kind of independent "international" schools that has grown in popularity in an otherwise proscribed private education system. These schools provide both foreign and local curriculums in the English medium for a majority of local students. By welcoming students from all ethnic and…

Over the last decades, many liberal democracies have experienced a tension between the education system's expressed requirement to foster citizenship norms and the liberal (sub-)ideal of norm neutrality. This dilemma has been accentuated by, on the one hand, increased ethnical and cultural diversity and, on the other hand, liberalization of…

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 --…

This paper takes as its starting point the concept of concerted cultivation as coined by Annette Lareau. It examines whether a focus on concerted cultivation adequately captures the various practices observed in young women's experiences of being privately educated in four schools in one area of England. We suggest that a variety of practices of…

Background: This study investigated parental decision making about non-parental child care programs based on the technological and quality components of the program, both child-focused and parent-focused. Child-focused variables related to children's access to technology such as computers, educational television programming, and the internet.…

This study explored the factors that influenced parental decisions to exit a public school and enroll their children in a private school. It also explored why parents chose the specific private school their child attends and the level of satisfaction they have with their private school choice. The key reasons for leaving public education were: (a)…