Total enrollment at Wisconsin's public and charter schools declined by 25,000 students from fall 2019 to fall 2020 and has continued to fall in the years since then. While declining birth rates and apparent movement of some students to private or home schools likely account for at least two thirds of the decline, somewhere between 0.5% and 1.2% of…

Over the first two school years under the COVID-19 pandemic, K-12 enrollment in public schools decreased dramatically--with losses concentrated among the youngest students--and the pandemic has had historically unprecedented effects on available learning opportunities. Little is known about where these students went and what learning environments…

The Cowen Institute has conducted annual polls on perceptions of public education in New Orleans since 2007. These polls are designed to provide a snapshot about how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12 public education system. Each year, the Cowen Institute asks some new questions about the most…

This is the second and final brief on the Cowen Institute's 2022 annual poll of parents' and guardians' perceptions of K-12 public education in New Orleans. The Cowen Institute has conducted these polls since 2007 with the intent of providing insight into how parents, guardians, and the general public view New Orleans' highly decentralized K-12…

Nationwide, public schools began to experience a youth population decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. After 14 years of successively smaller U.S. birth cohorts, elementary public schools now face gradually declining student counts. The complex convergence of shifting age demographics, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ongoing…

This report arrives during a time of heightened scrutiny and civic engagement. While public attention is currently trained primarily on Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), this research encompasses the whole of the city's education system, marking both commonalities and differences between different types of publicly funded schools. It highlights…

Unlike previous years of our "Schooling in America" survey project, our researchers are releasing multiple sets of results in a new, chart-focused format. This report is focused on the second wave of questions we asked about public opinion on K-12 education during the COVID pandemic. We also asked respondents their opinion on educational…

The landscape of school choice options in public education has been expanding faster than ever over the past decade, nationwide and especially in Florida. With this expansion has come an unprecedented array of new decisions that parents and guardians must learn to navigate as they seek the best school for their children. Options available to…

This report summarizes the state of competition in American K-12 education. It pays particular attention to the prevalence and market penetration of charter schools, private school vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships as market reforms. The effect of added institutional competition from charters, vouchers, and tax-credit scholarships on the…

"Keeping Pace with K-12 Online & Blended Learning" (2013), the 10th in a series of annual reports that began in 2004, examines the status of K-12 online education across the country. The report provides an overview of the latest policies, practices, and trends affecting online learning programs across all 50 states. In this 10th…

This report updates two previous reports: "Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 1999" (Bielick and Chapman 2003) and "Trends in the Use of School Choice: 1993 to 2003" (Tice et al. 2006). Using data from the National Household Education Survey (NHES) of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education…

Opportunities for school choice in the United States have expanded since the 1990s. This report uses data from the National Household Surveys Program (NHES) to present trends that focus on the use of and users of public schools (assigned and chosen), private schools (church-and nonchurch-related), and homeschoolers between 1993 and 2003. The…

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of children being home schooled during the past decade. The history of home schooling and its increasing interrelationship with public schooling are detailed. Demographic information on the home school population, a definition of home schooling, reasons to home school, and beliefs surrounding this…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data capable of monitoring the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 46 indicators of important developments and trends in U.S.…