SCHOOL SELECTION
How Parents Select Schools For Their Children
School AttributesParents say that having qualified teachers is their primary concern when it comes to school selection.
Q. Please rank the following attributes in order of importance when choosing a school for your children, selecting the five you feel are most important.
Q. Please indicate the importance of each of the following attributes when choosing a school for your children
Important Attributes by Region
When it comes to school choice, parent priorities differ by region, particularly in regards to job skills training, but all regions agree that qualified teachers are the most important consideration.
Q. Please indicate the importance of each of the following attributes when choosing a school for your children.
Important Attributes by Household Income
Parents from higher income households are more likely than those from lower income households to take qualified teachers and college preparation into consideration when choosing a school for their children, but less likely to consider job skills training, access to counseling, or English learning support.
Q. Please indicate the importance of each of the following attributes when choosing a school for your children.
Important Attributes by Race/Ethnicity
Black and Hispanic parents are more likely than White parents to cite one-on-one support from teachers, integrated use of technology, graduation rates, and innovative teaching methods as important considerations when choosing a school for their children.
Q. Please indicate the importance of each of the following attributes when choosing a school for your children.
Opinions & Assumptions
Parents were asked to provide the first word that comes to mind when they think independently about charter schools, private schools, and traditional public schools. The word cloud images below are representations of their collective responses, with the size of each word indicating the frequency of its use by respondents. Cost emerged as a primary theme with the words “costly,” “cost,” “rich,” “pricey” and “expensive” repeated most often in reference to private schools and frequently in reference to charter schools. It seems that many parents may be unaware that most charter schools are free to students and families. Words that parents associated exclusively with charter and private schools were “innovative,” “different” and “better.” Parents provided “good” more than three times as often as any other response when asked about traditional public schools, followed by “ok,” “poor,” “free” and “crowded.”
Q. Type the first word that comes to mind when you think of charter schools.
Q. Type the first word that comes to mind when you think of private schools.
Q. Type the first word that comes to mind when you think of traditional public schools.
