Homeschooling is generally understood to mean that a child's education takes place exclusively at home--but homeschooling is a continuum, not an all-or-nothing choice. In a sense, everyone is "home-schooled," and the ways that families combine learning at home with attending school are many. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the…

The school-choice landscape in the United States is undergoing a rapid transformation, as states increasingly enact a new form of vouchers called Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). Unlike earlier voucher programs, which generally allowed subsidies only for private school tuition, ESAs represent a radically expansive--and potentially very…

This study was conducted in a middle-class area where school districts are largely average. The purpose of this study was to better understand how families choose among the options available to their child for entering kindergarten. These options include the neighborhood public school, open enrollment into another public school, homeschooling, or…

In this report, the author explains the small-schools environment in New York City. Prior to the pandemic, the Big Apple had a small but growing microschool and learning pod community. New York City's frequent school closures throughout 2020 and 2021 caused many families to look more closely at these education options. New York State's stifling…

This poll was conducted between November 6-November 18, 2021 among a sample of 435 Black School Parents. The interviews were conducted online. Results based on the Black School Parents sample have a measure of precision of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. Among the key findings are: (1) Black parents' overall support for school vouchers…

America has a long history of small-school environments, such as one-room schoolhouses and homeschools. But in recent years, other models have developed, giving students more intimate settings for learning and enabling their families to play a larger role in their schooling. Microschools are a leading example of this growing sector that also…

Unless otherwise noted, data and charts are based on surveys conducted between July 14 and October 16, 2021 among a sample of 1,007 special education parents and 3,648 non-special needs parents. The interviews were administered online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of parents based on gender, educational attainment, age,…

The COVID-19 pandemic drastically disrupted the functioning of U.S. public schools, potentially changing the relative appeal of alternatives such as homeschooling and private schools. We study changes in families' choices of school sector using longitudinal student-level administrative data from Michigan and nationally representative data from the…

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…

This poll was conducted between December 14-December 21, 2021 among a sample of 435 Black school parents. The interviews were conducted online. Results based on the Black school parents sample have a measure of precision of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points. Among the key findings are: (1) Black, white, and Hispanic parents all have similar…

North Carolina is home to a growing and evolving K-12 education landscape. The state experienced a 21 percent increase in its public elementary and secondary school enrollment since 2000, with that figure projected to grow by another 4 percent by 2028. The state has garnered attention for its emphasis on individualized education and implementation…

Families continue to struggle navigating a fluid K-12 education space since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and emergence of the Delta variant. Over the last 18 months, the parents of 10.8 million did not get what they wanted from their child's school -- representing nearly one in five U.S. schoolchildren. Many families' early concerns over…

Crises have a way of shaking up the status quo and creating space for new thinking. When shocked out of their familiarity, people start to ask questions as to why things are the way that they are and brainstorm ways to make them better. Enter entrepreneurs. They are the people who take those ideas that are lying around and attempt to create…

This is the executive summary for the report "Roll Call: A Landscape Review of the Students, Financing, and performance of Milwaukee's K-12 Schools." The report takes stock of the changes that have occurred in the city's overall "system" of schools, including student enrollment and demographics, financing, and outcomes. Key…

The COVID-19 pandemic upended American education, throwing schools first into an impromptu version of distance learning in the spring of 2020 followed by a summer beset by uncertainty then delayed and uneven reopenings in the fall. Parents faced tough decisions about their children's education during the pandemic. In July 2020, a poll found that…