Student Enrollment Choices and Reported School Choice Reasons in 20

 

In 2019, some 79 percent of all students enrolled in grades K-12 attended public assigned schools. Twelve percent of enrolled students attended public chosen schools, 7 percent attended private religious schools, and 2 percent attended private nonreligious schools. In that same year, 35 percent of enrolled students had parents who reported considering schools other than the one their child attends before deciding which one their child would attend. Among these parents who reported considering schools other than the one their child attends, the percentage of enrolled students’ parents who rated the quality of teachers, principal, or other school staff as “very important” (79 percent) was higher than the percentage of students’ parents who rated any other factor as “very important.” A new NCES report, 2019 School Choice Participation, explores families’ enrollment behaviors and their assessment of the importance of certain school characteristics in their school choice decisions. It uses data from the 2019 administration of the National Household Education Surveys (NHES) Parent and Family Involvement in Education (PFI) questionnaire. This data point highlights the following: Seventy-two percent of students who attended private nonreligious schools had parents who reported considering schools other than the one their child attends —the highest percentage compared to students in other school types. Over half of the students’ parents reported that school safety (71 percent), curriculum focus or academic programs (60 percent), and academic performance of students at the school (53 percent) were “very important.” Similar to the pattern observed for all students, students at all four types of school had parents who commonly rated staff quality, safety, curriculum focus, and academic performance as "very important."