What School Choice Means?

What School Choice Means?

There are more options than ever for public school kids

The traditional assumption that most children will attend school in their neighborhoods is far less true today than a generation ago. The move away from purely neighborhood schools began in the 1970s with court decisions mandating busing as a desegregation tool. The rise of magnet school programs, which early on were developed in some school districts to persuade families to accept busing, has fueled the trend. In the last few years, as public dissatisfaction with the quality of schools has mushroomed, the idea that families should be able to choose where to enroll their children based on program quality and not just location, has been embraced in many states and cities.

It's hard to understand your options unless you know the new vocabulary. The following terms represent variations on the school-choice them now being debated wherever educators and politicians meet. The definitions are drawn from the Washington D.C., think tank, the Heritage foundation.

Charter school: A “public” school created and operated by a group of teachers, or other qualified individual or groups of individuals, that is largely free from state and district oversight. A charter school differs from a magnet school in its method of creation and its autonomy.

Controlled choice: Choice that is limited by court-ordered desegregation guidelines. Example: The City of Boston must observe strict racial guidelines in city schools. The the choice program there limits parents to choices that do no upset the racial balance of a particular school.

Full choice: Includes private as well as public schools, but not necessarily religious schools.

Interdistrict choice: Students are permitted to cross district lines to attend schools. Some states, such as Colorado, allow interdistrict choice only among a limited number of districts.

Intradistrict choice: Open enrollment among the schools in one particular district. Also called transfers.

Public School... Photo by Elena

Magnet schools: Public schools offering specialized programs to attract students. This may be done as a voluntary method of achieving racial balances when districts are under court order to desegregate. Magnet schools offer students an option or substitute for their location-based school assignment.

Open enrollment: Parents in a state have the right to decide which public school their children will attend anywhere in the state, rather than having children assigned to a school based on location. With voluntary open enrollment the district is not required to offer choice among its schools, but it can allow parents to choose a school. With mandatory open enrollment, the district must allow parents this option.

Post-secondary enrollment options: High school students (usually juniors or seniors) are permitted to enroll in courses at state universities or community colleges at government expense and to receive high school graduation credits and college credits for those courses. The money allocated for the child's education is used to pay for the courses selected, thus forcing high schools to compete with colleges to retain their students.

Private voucher programs: Programs supported by private individuals, businesses, and other groups that give vouchers to low income children to attend the private school of their choice. The programs differ in the type of support they give to families and in the type of schools that are eligible.