School Choice

School choice has been a hot topic in education for quite some time now and many Americans do want choices.  Ask and you shall receive. There are now many avenues for parents to exercise choice in the education their children receive- thus gone are the days of simply going to school with your neighbors down the street.  At least not as your only option.  Current choices in "public" education range from neighborhood school choice options, private school vouchers to digital learning opportunities.  However, these choices vary from state to state (and in some cases district to district).

The heritage foundation has summarized each states' choice options.  Florida, as an example, has different avenues for choice, each with it's own corresponding state level bill, criteria for enrollment and process to access (hit the word below to link to each bill's text):

(1) Public School choice-  Opportunity scholarships (the right for parents to choose higher-performing school's if their child's school is failing year after year); charter school options (public schools that operate under a different set of standards than traditional public schools); and voluntary public neighborhood school choice (choosing to send your children to a school a few miles away instead of your neighborhood school).

(2) Private School Choice- The Mckay Scholarship for students with disabilities (allows parents of students receiving special education or 504 plan services to choose a different public school, or obtain a scholarship for private school tuition)

(3) On-line learning- Florida Virtual Schools (digital school options)

Each of these programs have their own criteria and paths parents must take to exercise choice.  Consistent with all is the right for increased parent input in their child's education and the right to high(er)-performing options. The idea is that if kids are receiving an education that is determined to NOT be "high-performing", or are not preparing them to live a meaningful and productive adult life, parents can choose "better" options.

I have no problem with that.  Of course not.  How could one argue against (1) increased control over one's destiny (aka adult outcomes), (2) the opportunity to leave a failing school (I mean is it really ethical to make a child attend a failing school year after year?), and/or (3) the potential for better post-school outcomes. The irony, however, is this... the array of choices are confusing and we have limited data to help guide which choice is most likely to drive increased outcomes (if any).  With such a wide array of options (aka choices) how is one to navigate the system?  Who is actually making a choice and who is not?  What are the actual outcomes on student learning and adult life? How do we  know?

Just to summarize for you the various choices was a daunting task.  I haven't even begun to discuss what steps are necessary to exercise each choice is, or how beneficial one is over the other.

Is choice a good idea?  To think about this an important questions remain:  Are school and student outcomes improving because of choice?  And, who's outcomes, exactly, are improving:  The students who are attending low performing schools year after year, or the ones who would be attending high performing school regardless of "choice"?

What do you think.....?