Open enrollment in public schools is a form of school choice that allows students to attend schools other than the one assigned to them by their school district. Though often less visible than policies such as charter schools, vouchers, and education savings accounts, K-12 open enrollment is rising in popularity across the nation, and 73 percent…

This dissertation examines the perceptions of parents who open enroll their children in an alternative public school by diving into the lived experiences of these individuals. The research is grounded in three theoretical frameworks: Parent Involvement Theory (McCurdy and Daro, 2001), Rational Choice Theory (Adler et al., 2014), and Market Theory…

Nearly 70 years after Milton Friedman first proposed K-12 education vouchers, students in Arizona, Iowa, Utah, West Virginia, and other states can customize their education using education savings accounts (ESAs). ESAs allow parents to spend public education funding on expenses such as private school tuition, tutoring, and homeschooling curricula.…

Despite receiving little academic attention, open enrollment has the greatest potential among school choice policies to transform the governance of local school districts because all student transfers occur within the public school system, meaning that families and governance structures in two (or more) school districts are impacted by…

Background: Early studies of district-level outcomes of interdistrict school choice policies found changes in how districts interact with one another and changes in districts' per-pupil expenditures. More recent studies suggest that wider social and political consequences may result from interdistrict choice policies. Purpose: In Colorado,…

In many ways, Arizona is on the forefront of school choice: in addition to a state-wide open enrollment law, it was one of the first states to adopt charter school legislation in 1994 and currently has the second-highest percentage of public school students attending charter schools in the nation. Despite the extensive research on school choice,…

School choice policies can, by design or in implementation, give schools and districts discretion over enrollment. In this study, I examine the effect of local discretion over inter-district open enrollment on non-resident enrollment. I use longitudinal data on open enrollment patterns and policies in the metropolitan Detroit area. I find that…

Open enrollment is a form of school choice that gives families the opportunity to choose an educational setting or school within the public school system that is best for their children. In U.S. public school districts, students typically must attend the school that is in their neighborhood and often do not have a choice of attending a different…

This poll was conducted between February 13-14, 2023 among a sample of 2,200 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. Among the key findings are: (1) Support for ESAs, school vouchers, charter schools, and open…

This poll was conducted between January 23-February 7, 2023 among a sample of 1,311 Black parents. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of Black school parents based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of…

EdChoice and Braun Research conducted its annual survey to gauge the opinions of the American public (N = 1,209) and school parents (N = 1,238) on topics like the state of K-12 education, their schooling preferences, choice reforms and the current pandemic--to name a few. Both survey samples are nationally representative of those respective…

This poll was conducted between September 20-25, 2024 among a sample of 1,034 Teachers. The interviews were conducted online. Results based on the full survey have a measure of precision of plus or minus 3.60 percentage points. This report highlights: (1) views on K-12 education; (2) teaching profession and experiences; (3) school choice policies;…