Given recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, specifically "Carson v. Makin", which permit public funding for religious schools, we examine how Catholic diocese and school leaders interpret these legal shifts for Catholic education. We utilize the Catholic education sector in New York City as a case study to examine how Catholic school…

Specialized high schools are an increasingly popular way to prepare young adults for postsecondary experiences and expand school choice. While much literature ex- amines charter school spillover effects and the effects of specialized schools on the students who attend them, little is known about the spillover effects of specialized high schools on…

The majority of autistic students experience numerous difficulties at school, which may contribute to frequent moves between mainstream schools. Despite this, no studies have examined the reasons why autistic students are making non-essential mainstream school moves. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences which led parents to…

This poll was conducted between October 10-13, 2024 among a sample of 2,253 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 findings pertaining to: (1) Views on K-12 Education; (2) Schooling and…

Although one of the fastest-growing homeschool subgroups, there are no empirical studies specifically considering Hispanic/Latino/a/x/e homeschool families. This study asks Hispanic and Latina parents to describe what homeschooling means to them. Using phenomenology, intersectionality, and community cultural wealth, we interviewed 18 mothers…

The middle-classes use school choice as a strategy of class reproduction and comparative advantage. In this article, we show how middle-class parental school choice strategies are spatially dependent and how schooling preferences and final choices are bounded by the social and educational characteristics of the local education market of their…

Parents' happiness orientation has garnered early attention in school choice studies but has not been cautiously examined. Drawing on Aristotle's framework of Eudaimonia and Hedonia, along with Ahmed's concept of the happiness promise, this study transcends a perspec­tive of preference and examines how parents understand and pursue happiness in…

Individualism and competition are central neoliberal concepts that have profoundly altered the U.S. public education system. This article draws on poststructuralist theory and advances the argument that these concepts have produced problematic policies and deeply flawed school choice mechanisms such as charter schools and school vouchers. I also…

We provide novel evidence on the broader impacts of school choice systems by quantifying disparities in peer continuity from middle to high school in New York City. We find that Black and Hispanic students and those in high-poverty neighborhoods attend high school with a much smaller fraction of their middle school or neighborhood peers than their…

AACRAO Research completed five 60-Second Surveys and four comprehensive reports. Other research-supported work included: supporting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation credit mobility learning portfolio, partnering with NACUBO to create a joint statement on the use of administrative and student success holds, and supporting WICHE in their work…

Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in…

Using critical race methodology as a methodological framework, this paper explores how 16 Black men PhD scientists and engineers describe their undergraduate and graduate school choices and how race and racism influenced these processes. Our analysis yielded two descriptive themes focused on counterspaces for Black men in science and engineering…

Nebraska does not currently have any private educational choice programs, but recent legislative pushes have brought options such as education savings accounts (ESAs) into the spotlight. ESAs allow parents to withdraw their children from public district or charter schools and receive a deposit of public funds into government-authorized savings…

This study examines how the student transportation options available to families affect which schools are accessible to them in a choice-based setting. The study has two parts. First, we compare commute times by foot, public transit, school bus, and car. We show that providing school bus service reduces commute times and improves access for…

Many students attend a pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program outside of their neighborhood school, but there is no evidence that making this choice is associated with subsequent student readiness for kindergarten. In the Houston Independent School District (HISD), pre-K is not zoned, which means families can request to enroll their children on any…