At-Risk Students Drawn by School Choice Program

A study released by Michigan State University showed that the at-risk students have been provided additional choices in their education due to the school choice program, which began in the mid-1990s with that exact goal. The number of students taking advantage of the school choice program has nearly doubled from 66,560 in 2005-06, up to 115,209 in 2012-13.

While the majority of students who have taken advantage of school of choice were white, 64.9 percent, the number of African-American students who chose to leave their home district was 10 percent higher than those who chose to stay, with 27.3 percent taking advantage of school of choice while only 16.5 percent remained in their home district. This difference shows that of those choosing to leave their home school, the largest percentage was black, poor, and lower-performing students.

While the focus of the study was on students choosing to leave their home district for another traditional school, figures were reported showing that more students are enrolled in charter schools than schools of choice. A near 3 percent increase in charter enrollment was seen in the data, increasing from 5.3 percent in 2005-06 to 7.97 percent in 2012-13.

The lead investigator on the study and associate professor of education policy at MSU, Joshua Cowen, stated that the study focused mainly on children in elementary school. Mr. Cowen said that he is looking to further his studies in the future, focusing on how school of choice programs affect certain districts as well as how it affects student performance and racial segregation.

posted by PAA Online , Friday, July 31, 2015 11:20 AM
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