School Choice: Pulled by Promise or Pushed by Problems?

New research explores the drivers of parent decision making

When families decide to leave their local public school, does that choice reflect a pull toward a private school, or is it a push away from their public school? To answer that question, we borrowed a page from the business world.  

Savvy sales leaders know they win customers by clearly articulating the problem their product solves. Starting a pitch by discussing the features or, heaven forbid, the cost is to risk the sale. Instead, smart salespeople start by mapping the current reality to identify what’s not working. Then they describe how the product rescues the customer from the problem.  

What is the problem that most directly drives student enrollment in private school choice programs, as measured by the take-up rates of state policies?  

To investigate, we measured a variety of state, school, and policy features associated with over 50 school choice programs to determine which affect enrollment rates.  

Our results initially surprised us. Thinking like a sales leader, however, they make sense. Policy features themselves, such as access to public school extracurriculars, transportation, even mandatory testing, did not consistently show impact. What did? Measures of school quality, particularly 8^th grade academic achievement and school safety, showed a strong relationship with school choice participation.  

Enrollments in choice programs surge when parents perceive that students are not being protected and educated effectively in public schools. That is a problem.  

It’s a problem for the 50 million students currently in public school classrooms.  But it is also a problem for policymakers and advocates of school choice. It seems that what pushes parents to enroll their students in choice programs is more a bug of public schools than a promised feature of the change. Our study suggests that the policy levers available to legislators are less likely to convince parents to enroll in choice policies. Instead, what impacts parents in predictable ways is the state of the public schools in their vicinity.  

Our research reveals a complex reality: parents look for alternatives when they are aware that the well-being of their children is imperiled through physical or psychological harassment or academic shortcomings. Notably, NCES data paint a bleak picture of public-school safety, and parent perspectives track the government data.  When public schools are not equipped to limit exposure to bullying and when the academics of the middle school years are insufficient, parents flee the public schools if they can access financial support from private school choice programs. 

Although our pioneering results are provocative, further research is needed to confirm the relationship of student safety to enrollment in school choice programs.  But for now, the takeaway is clear. Choice is not simply about selling something different. It is often about fixing problems families can no longer ignore. Addressing safety and academic concerns within the public school system would be the clearest way to give all families real choice, where students choose out of personal preference, not out of necessity.   

Read the full report here.