In this article, I examine a case involving an equity-minded parent caught in a quandary about which school to select for her child, knowing that her decision may have consequences for others. To do so, I heuristically construct a fictional portrait and explore the deliberative process a parent might have through a dialogue taking place among…

Seismic shifts are shaking the landscape of K-12 education. Public school districts across the US have lost over a million students since 2020. Meanwhile, novel educational models--such as microschools and hybrid homeschooling--have more than doubled their enrollments. This paper explores what's driving families to seek these new learning…

In recent years, Innovative Schools in Dali have received increasing coverage in Chinese social media and have also attracted middle-class parents from cities, as viable bottom-up educational initiatives. This paper explores the rationales for Chinese middle-class parents' choice of Innovative Schools in Dali. Analysis of data from online…

School district leaders are responsible for creating strategic plans for their districts which include three-year, five-year, and ten-year plans. Prior to 1989, school district leaders anticipated student growth or decline by assessing the housing market and mobility trends in the district. In 1989, the Nebraska legislature passed a law allowing…

This interview study examines the school choices of white middle class parents who live in a large Northeastern city. Interviewees identify as progressive urbanites and express an appreciation for racial diversity. Simultaneously, interviewees draw on anti-Black stereotypes when evaluating school options and avoiding majority Black schools. While…

This paper studies how parents' school choices are affected by information about school and peer quality and how social interactions mediate changes in demand. I design an information intervention that cross-randomizes whether parents receive information about school quality (school value-added) and peer quality. Using a spillover design that…

Purpose: Research on privileged parents, defined here as those with the economic, social, and educational resources to navigate school choice processes to their advantage, often depicts such parents as anxious about maintaining social mobility, leading them to "opportunity hoard" desirable or academically competitive schools in ways that…

Public PreK programs are an increasingly popular policy tool to equalize early learning opportunities. Programs can be universally available or targeted to support children's readiness. At the intersection of early childhood and K-12 education, their hybrid status can be difficult for families to negotiate. Based on interviews completed in 2018,…

Existing research has found evidence of widespread anti-Asian bias in the United States, yet limited work has examined whether anti-Asian biases affect parents' school preferences. In this article, using a conjoint experiment, we examine White parents' views on schools with varying percentages of Asian students. We find that respondents strongly…

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the decision-making process of school choice for Christian parents with preschool through elementary aged children. Hall's et al. (2002) values-based decision-making theory (VBDM) guided this qualitative descriptive study that incorporated two research questions. The two sources of data included…

The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed preschool education, expanding beyond traditional methods to include digital learning innovations, even in early childhood education. This study investigates the implementation of Islamic education through an Online Preschool Program in Indonesia. Using a qualitative approach, the research involved 20 parents…

In a new report, "Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education," the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools examines results from a survey of more than 5,000 parents conducted by The Harris Poll in May 2022. Survey results provide deep insights into how parents feel about education, whether and why they've made…

This poll was conducted between June 5-7, 2024 among a sample of 2,251 Adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 2.44 percentage points.…

The participation of multilingual children in minority language immersion programmes is under-researched internationally. The Republic of Ireland (RoI) has become a linguistically and culturally diverse society. In the RoI, parents have the opportunity to educate their child in English-medium or Irish-medium (IM) schools. However, the cohort of…

This poll was conducted between June 13-15, 2023, among a sample of 2,325 adults. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. This report highlights: (1) wellbeing and happiness; (2) views on K-12 education; (3) views on…