USE OF SCHOOL CHOICE

June 1995

• Introduction
• What are the characteristics of families who choose schools?
• What are parents' primary reasons for choosing a school?
• Do parents' perceptions of their schools differ when they choose a school for their child?
• Discussion

The NCES Education Policy Issues series is designed to provide the best statistical information available on important policy questions. The series primarily provides responses grounded in statistical findings, but also, as appropriate, provides some information based on smaller scale research and case studies.

Introduction

The National Household Education Survey 1993 (NHES:93), a survey of the (NCES), provides these national data on school choice. The survey asked parents of children in grades 3-12 who were over 8 years old whether their child attended a private school or a public school that was their "regularly assigned" school or a "chosen" school. A small number of parents volunteered that their assigned school was their school of choice (1.2 percent). In this brief, these parents, as well as those whose child attended a private school or a chosen public school, were considered to have chosen their child's school. 1

What are the characteristics of families who choose schools?

In 1993, 20 percent of children attended schools their families selected--11 percent in chosen public schools and 9 percent in private schools (table 1). 2Black students (23 percent) were more likely than white students (19 percent) to have their families exercise the option to choose a school other than the assigned public school. 3 Moreover, the nature of the choices differed--black and Hispanic students were more likely to be in a chosen public school and less likely to be in a private school while white students were more likely to be in a private school than in a chosen public school.

Children living in urbanized areas were twice as likely as those not in urbanized areas to be in a school chosen by their families (25 percent to 12 percent). Among those whose parents chose their school, students in urbanized areas were somewhat more likely to be in public schools than in private schools while students outside urbanized areas were about equally likely to be in either type of chosen school (table 1).

Students from households with incomes over $50,000 were more likely to be in a chosen school than other students. Income also was related to the type of chosen school students attended--when household income was over $50,000, private schools were chosen more often than public schools; the reverse was true when household income was $30,000 or under. Similarly, children of parents with higher levels of education were more likely to be in a chosen school than other children. When at least one parent had any postsecondary education, 20 percent or more of students were in a chosen school compared to 16 percent of students whose parents had no postsecondary education. As parental education levels increased, students were more likely to be in a private school.

What are parents' primary reasons for choosing a school?

Overall, parents who chose public schools for their children did so for three reasons--a better academic environment (26 percent), special academic courses (23 percent), and school convenience (23 percent). 4 Parents with lower socio-economic status were more likely to select schools for convenience than families with higher socio-economic status (28 percent compared to 16 percent), while similar proportions of both populations chose schools for the two academic reasons. 5 These findings are consistent with findings from other more localized studies such as a recent Minnesota study (Rubenstein et al.).

Parents who enrolled their children in private schools did so for two reasons--a better academic environment (37 percent) and religious/moral reasons (30 percent). These were the top two reasons across all population groups shown in Table 1. The other main reasons cited by families who chose public schools received little mention from families who chose private schools--only 10 percent cited special courses and 2 percent cited convenience. These findings mirror those of an earlier national study of school choice (Williams et al.).

Do parents' perceptions of their schools differ when they choose a school for their child?

Overall, parents who chose schools were more likely than parents who did not to be satisfied with the school their children attended. This was particularly true for parents who chose private schools. Eighty-two percent of private-school parents and 61 percent of parents who chose a public school said they were "very satisfied" with the schools their child attended, compared with 52 percent for parents with a child in the assigned public school. Similar patterns were seen for parents' level of satisfaction with their child's teachers, the school's academic standards, and the school's discipline policy (figure 1).

Parents' perceptions of the schools also were related to the type of school their child attended. While over 80 percent of parents with children in the assigned public school and parents with children in chosen public schools had positive perceptions about various school attributes, parents with children in private schools were most likely to have positive perceptions (over 90 percent on each measure). Private school parents were most likely to agree that the student is challenged in school, the principal and teachers maintain discipline, and the students and teachers respect each other (table 2). Parents who chose a public school generally agreed more often than those with children in an assigned school that their child enjoys school, teachers maintain discipline, and students and teachers respect each other.

Table 2: Parents' perceptions of the schools their children attend by type of school: 1993 (children in grades 3 to 12)
Agree or strongly agree that:	Public, assigned	Public, chosen	Private
Child is challenged at school	83%	85%	97%
Child enjoys school	87	91	94
Teachers maintain discipline	89	92	98
Students and teachers respect each other	86	90	98
Principal maintains discipline	91	93	98

Discussion

1. Although not included in this analysis of school choice, in a seperate question in the NHES:93, 47 percent of parents responded that their choice of where they live now was influenced by where their child would go to school.

2. The percentage of students in grades 3 to 12 attending private schools reported by parents in the NHES (8.8 percent) differs from that reported by schools in the Schools and Staffing Survey (9.8 percent). Between the two surveys there were significants differences in survey methodology and respondent population. For furthur information, please request the technical documentation.

3. Due to rounding these percentages differ those shown in the table.

4. Parents who reported that the assigned schools was the school of choice were not asked their reasons for choosing a school.

5. The authors created a socio-economic status measure which composite of parents' educational attainment and household income. On average, lower socio-economic status families had income of #30,000 or less and parental educational attainment of high school diploma or less.