Exploring parents' experiences with school choice when choosing a public high school on Cape Cod

Abstract

This paper explores the experiences, stories, and efforts that parents have taken when engaging in public school choice on Cape Cod. As part of the No Child Left Behind Legislation along with the Massachusetts Education Reform Act, public school systems can opt to become school choice districts. This allows parents from outside their public school boundaries to send their child to any school district that has classified itself as a school choice district. In many parts of Massachusetts parents have been given more options to educate their child. This has become a staple within the 65-mile peninsula of Cape Cod Massachusetts. Cape Cod contains fifteen towns that are comprised of eight public school districts; all of which practice public school choice. Employing the methodology of qualitative inquiry, parents in this study shared their personal stories and experiences they encountered while engaging in the process of school choice. Inquiring about parent's thoughts, ideas, perceptions, and stories associated with the choice to enroll their students in a non-community district created insight into many themes that parents saw as important when choosing a school. The major themes that surfaced throughout the research included dynamic school leadership, high academic standards, extracurricular activities, athletic programs, social networks, and school safety. The literature related to school choice depicted how parents and school systems compete for students. Understanding that parents create their own realities and opinions based on their own experiences and interpretations leads us to look at school choice through the lens of Social Construction Theory.