School Choice Decisions Research Articles

General High School or Vocational High School: School Choice for Students Near the High School Entrance Examination Score Line

The study focuses on exploring the Chinese students’ school choice decisions. In particular, it explores why some students prefer vocational schools over general high schools, even when eligible for the latter. The research also examines how pupils make sense of these dual purposes at the time of choosing. According to this study’s results which were based on in-depth interviews with eight vocational school students, most of them chose these schools because they considered the courses offered there as more important than attending prestigious general high schools. Students choose their schools according to personal feelings and understandings about educational equality and achievement in society. Students' choices reflect their subjective experiences and individual interpretations of social signals regarding educational equity and success. The findings emphasized psychological and structural determinants in selecting schools so as to foster equal learning opportunities among all children regardless of their backgrounds. This study contributes to the understanding of how students navigate the complex landscape of educational options, and how their choices are influenced by broader societal forces.

Assessing the Alignment Between Online Word-Of-Mouth and Schools’ Actual Academic Performance: A Deep Neural Network Analysis

ABSTRACT Many parents use social media to gather word-of-mouth regarding schools’ performance, subsequently influencing their school choice decisions. Yet, it’s unclear how well online opinions reflect schools’ actual academic performance. To address this gap, this study uses machine learning to examine whether the online evaluations of students’ learning can match schools’ test scores and their improvements. Findings indicate that while online evaluations don’t perfectly align with test scores, the association between online word-of-mouth and test scores remains stronger than that of test score gains. Consequently, online word-of-mouth tends to recommend schools with higher test scores over higher value-added scores.

Adolescents’ Active Transport to School and Parental Perspectives in a School Choice Policy Environment

Internationally many adolescents do not meet the recommended level of regular physical activity. Although active transport to school (ATS) is promoted to increase physical activity in adolescents, relying solely on ATS is not feasible for those who live beyond walkable or cyclable distance to school. School choice education policies complicate the potential of ATS when adolescents do not enrol in the closest school. This research contributes to sparse New Zealand and growing international literature to examine parental perspectives on school choice, travel to school decisions and modes of travel to school in adolescents enrolled in the closest versus non-closest school.We analysed questionnaire responses from 352 parents in Dunedin, differentiating results for enrolment in the closest versus non-closest school. Overall, only 38.9% of adolescents enrolled in their closest school. The adolescents who enrolled in their closest school lived closer to school and more frequently used ATS compared to their peers who enrolled in a non-closest school (home-to-school distance (walkable (≤2.25 km)/cyclable (>2.25–4.0 km)/beyond cyclable (>4.0 km)): 47.4%/27.8%/24.8% versus 4.8%/20.3%/74.9%; p < 0.001; transport to school (active/motorised/mixed): 40.9%/56.9%/2.2% versus 9.3%/82.7%/7.9%; p < 0.001). Nearly three-quarters of school choice decisions were made by parents jointly with their adolescent. Parents whose adolescent enrolled in the closest school more frequently reported proximity to home, social connection and school’s co-educational status (only for adolescents enrolled in co-educational school) as reasons for school choice compared to their counterparts. Mixed-mode initiatives may support adolescents to increase ATS when they attend a school beyond cyclable distance.

EXPLORING Exploring the Influence of Brand Image and Education Costs on Parents' Decisions in Choosing a School: The Mediating Impact of Word of Mouth (WoM)

Word of Mouth (WoM) tends to be more trusted than direct promotion from the school. Parents tend to trust other people's real exp=eriences in choosing a school, which can strengthen a school's positive brand image. Through WoM, parents can get more in-depth information about various aspects of the school, including the quality of education, facilities, curriculum, and learning atmosphere. This research aims to investigate the mediating role of WoM in influencing brand image and educational costs on parents' decisions in choosing a school. Purposive sampling was used to determine research respondents totaling 43 parents at SMP Ma`arif 2 Ponorogo. Data were analyzed using path analysis with the PLS-SEM method. The research results show that WoM acts as a mediator which is insignificant on the brand image (β=0.094; ρ=0.101), but significant on the cost of education and parents' decisions in choosing a school (β=0.388; ρ=0.005). Apart from that, WoM also directly influences parents' decisions (β=0.540; ρ=0.000). These findings highlight the importance of recommendations and reviews from other parents in shaping parents' perceptions of a school, which impacts their decisions in choosing a school for their children. The practical implications of this research are that schools can improve their brand image and adjust their tuition fees to be more attractive to parents, while also strengthening WOM marketing strategies to improve parents' school choice decisions.

The Influence of The Marketing Mix on Educational Decision-Making is a Fascinating Area of Study

AbstractThis research employs a quantitative approach, utilizing a survey method as its chosen research design to investigate factors influencing students' decisions in choosing private junior high schools in Sekupang Subdistrict, Batam. Through the distribution of questionnaires to 159 students in the specified area, data is collected on various marketing mix components and their correlation with school choice decisions. The collected data undergoes rigorous multilinear regression analysis using the SPSS tool, employing statistical methods to test formulated research hypotheses and establish relationships between marketing mix variables and school choice decisions. The interpretation of results is presented, drawing meaningful conclusions and offering implications and recommendations for further development in the context of private junior high school selection. The final stage encompasses the meticulous creation of a research report adhering to scientific standards, comprehensively detailing the research stages, findings, data analysis, conclusions, and recommendations. This study contributes to a quantitative understanding of the multifaceted factors influencing students' decisions in the specified educational context.

Middle Class African American Parents’ Aspirations for Rigor and Reading Curriculum During the Pandemic Era in Detroit Schools

This community-based research study examined the perspectives of African American parents of middle-class economic status who participated in a social network pertaining to school choice decisions during the pandemic era of virtual schooling. Their residency and school choices emerged against the grain of urban schools that have racially charged histories and decades of residential mobility trends. I examined parents’ aspirations for academic rigor and perspectives of literacy practices at select schools as well as public school district official perspectives of supporting the enrollment process and attracting families to the district. Parent interview and survey data revealed confidence in public, private, and charter school selections prior to enrolling, but uncertainty with the virtual literacy curriculum once enrolled in school. School district official interviews revealed enhanced awareness of parents’ concerns surrounding school choice and need to be proactive to the needs of middle-class families.

DETERMINANTS OF PARENTAL SCHOOL CHOICE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The study examined determinants of parental school choice internationally aiming to identify research gaps and providing suggestions for researchers. Articles published between 2000 and 2023 were searched from 9 databases and a total of 30 articles were included in the review. The result showed that parental school choice is critically affected by parent-related factors like parents’ education, income, family size, and education level of the children, and the school-related factors: quality of education, performance of teachers, school facilities, school cost, parent-teacher relationship, and school curriculums are the major ones. The safety/security related and children’s educational achievement is found slightly affecting factor on parental school choice. The research design of reviewed articles is found descriptive research although the explanatory research design was appropriate as it supports better. The study also identified factors for developing and developed countries are different. For developing countries socio-economy, income, family education, cost, curriculum, technology, proximity to home, number of children, and age of the child are the major ones. For developed countries: school quality, teacher performance, special programs, playground, training teachers, library service, student moral development, school performance, environment, school ranking, interaction with parents, discipline, curriculum structure, knowledge, result, and communication skills are paid attention for parental school choice decisions.

Parental rights or parental wrongs: Parents' metacognitive knowledge of the factors that influence their school choice decisions.

School choice initiatives-which empower parents to choose which schools their children attend-are built on the assumptions that parents know what features of a school are most important to their family and that they are capable of focusing on the most important features when they make their decisions. However, decades of psychological research suggest that decision makers lack metacognitive knowledge of the factors that influence their decisions. We sought to reconcile this discrepancy between the policy assumptions and the psychological research. To do so, we asked participants to complete Choice-Based Conjoint surveys in which they made series of choices between different hypothetical schools. We then asked participants to self-report the weight they placed on each attribute when making their choices. Across four studies, we found that participants did not know how much weight they had placed on various school attributes. Average correlations between stated and revealed weights ranged from r = .34-.54. Stated weights predicted different choices than revealed weights in 16.41-20.63% of decisions. These metacognitive limitations persisted regardless of whether the participants were parents or non-parents (Study 1a/1b), the nature of the attributes that participants used to evaluate alternatives (Study 2), and whether or not decision makers had access to school ratings that could be used as metacognitive aids (Study 3). In line with prior psychological research-and in contract to policy assumptions-these findings demonstrate that decision makers do not have particularly strong metacognitive knowledge of the factors that influence their school choice decisions. As a result, parents making school choice decisions are likely to seek out and use the wrong information, thus leading to suboptimal school choices. Future research should replicate these results in more ecologically valid samples and test new approaches to school choice that account for these metacognitive limitations.

Private Schools and Student Achievement

Abstract We investigate the effects of private schools on reading and numeracy scores using rich population data. Conditional on lagged test scores and narrowly defined neighborhood indicators, Catholic and non-Christian faith private schools on average raise test scores by 0.18 standard deviation or more relative to the average public school, while non-Catholic Christian private schools have negligible effects. The effects of secular private “prep” schools are similar to those of Catholic schools, but selection bias is a greater concern in this case. We use school-specific estimates of effectiveness to investigate private school choice decisions and the determinants of private school effectiveness.

School choice decision of middle-class parents in urban India: a sociological introspection

PurposeThe purpose of this study to add to the body of knowledge by examining and discussing school choice trends through the perspective of rational choice theory. This qualitative research explores rationale behind the choice of government schools by middle-class parents in contemporary India. This research will also shed light on the features of the schools that parents consider while making school selection process. Finally, research focuses upon the process and context of decision-making and dynamics involved therein. In other words, the attempt is being made to understand what is the yardstick used by parents to differentiate “good” and “bad” school.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research was conducted in two government (central and state) schools in Lucknow, India. The findings of the study are based on 22 qualitative interviews conducted with parents of school-going children, and principal or headmaster of the school. The interviews were unstructured and open-ended and were supported by observations. The observation was not only made of the social setting but also the reaction of the participants. The idea was to develop an emic view of the subject by exploring valid narratives. Pseudonyms were used to report the finding so as to maintain the confidentiality of the research subjects.FindingsThis research found that the majority of the parents chose school according to their social class, that is, the lower middle-class parents sent their wards to state government primary school, while the middle-class parents preferred to send their wards to central government school (Kendriya Vidyalaya). This study, therefore, lends credence to the contention that the middle class is a variegated social category and the dynamics of school choice vary across its subcategories. This lends credence to the contention that school choice decision is not solely a utilitarian choice and may be guided by emotion as well.Originality/valueThe originality of the research lies in the fact that the authors are extending the arguments made by the rational choice theory. The theory proposes that individual makes rational decisions motivated by self-interest and people look for the finest product or service and in pursuing them attempt to maximize their overall utility. Derivatively, Indian parents rationally make school choice decisions for their wards, gathering information and weighing various options and subsequently choose the “best” school for their children. This study moves beyond the prevailing perception that public schools offer low-quality education, and nobody attends such schools out of choice.

DETERMINANTS OF SCHOOL CHOICE: A STUDY ON KHULNA CITY CORPORATION (KCC) AREA OF BANGLADESH

This study attempts to sort out the factors influencing school choice decision of parents inKhulna City Corporation (KCC) of Bangladesh. A semi-structured interview schedule, containing twenty-five Likert-type questions on determinants of school choice, was used to collect the data. A total of 150 randomly selected mothers, having at least one school going child, residing at Nirala Residential area of KCC were interviewed. Findings indicate that parental education and income play a decisive role in the decisions of school choice. The education level of children (p<0.000), the size of family (p<0.004) and the number of offspring are evidently influencing the selection of school as well. Moreover, parents’ psychological impression about schools (p<0.000), together with financial aspects (p<0.040), proved to be more pronounced than the schools’ academic reputations and facilities (p<0.065), nevertheless, the aforesaid issues are found to be positively linked with school choice (p<0.018). Parents’ preference for private schools over government schools, especially, for young educands (Class I to Class V), however, suggest their growing dissatisfaction about the quality of education offered by government primary schools. Therefore, to restore parents’ faith in government schools, concerned authorities should value the demands of parents and their children to improve the quality of services in schools and to enhance the efficiency of the teachers to increase academic opportunity, success and social responsibility across the country.

Who’s Missing from School Choice Research?

Using Cooper’s (2005) framework of positioned school choice, and its orientation towards providing a more nuanced and inclusive view of how social power and privilege shape and legitimize school choice decisions, this basic interpretive qualitative study (Merriam, 2009) traces how four Black mothers and their eighth-grade daughters chose their high schools. We find the daughters largely controlled the application process and made the final selections of schools. Mothers played a facilitative role, providing their daughters with information from their social networks while supporting their daughters’ independent goal-setting and decision-making. The study thus illustrates how school choice decisions for Black girls are fundamentally shaped by Black “motherwork” (Cooper, 2007). Our findings both extend current research on school choice by centering the experiences and decision-making approaches of Black families residing in urban, low-income, and segregated communities and open possibilities for more culturally relevant and aligned interventions to support these families as well as to reform school choice processes to be more inclusive and just.

School Choice Factors Influencing U.S. Domestic and International Student Pilots’ Selections of Vocational Flight Schools

As international civil aviation activities resume from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with fleet growth and high retirement rates for senior pilots, there is a concern about the industry’s capability in supplying sufficient numbers of competent professional pilots. In order to advance the industry’s recruitment, it is necessary to determine effective approaches that may attract prospective student pilots to flight schools. This study investigated how school choice factors influenced U.S. domestic student pilots’ selections of vocational, non-collegiate flight schools in comparison to international student pilots. The study data were adopted from a 2019 survey research, which included 157 domestic and 44 international participants. The participants were invited to rate how much influence various choice factors, including marketing approaches, relevant people, and institutional factors, had on their school choice decision-making. Key findings regarding marketing approaches revealed that word of mouth and media-based marketing approaches were significantly more influential for international student pilots. Whereas domestic student pilots seemed to prefer personal communication-based marketing approaches. With respect to the influence of relevant people, this study found that certain school members (i.e., flight instructors, current trainees, executive committee, and sales personnel) had a significantly higher influence on international student pilots’ school choice decisions than for domestic student pilots. In regard to institutional factors, it was found that both groups included the following factors as the key influencers: training quality, availability of flying opportunities, training costs, safety record of the programs, the overall reputation, length of time to complete program, reputation of flight instructors, scheduling flexibility, and training capacity. Moreover, international student pilots endorsed that institutional factors pertaining to school campus life had significantly more influence on their school selections than their domestic counterparts. Implications and recommendations were proposed. This study helps fill a gap in the current literature on vocational flight school choices.

The Kids on the Bus: The Academic Consequences of Diversity-Driven School Reassignments.

Many public school diversity efforts rely on reassigning students from one school to another. While opponents of such efforts articulate concerns about the consequences of reassignments for students' educational experiences, little evidence exists regarding these effects, particularly in contemporary policy contexts. Using an event study design, we leverage data from an innovative socioeconomic school desegregation plan to estimate the effects of reassignment on reassigned students' achievement, attendance, and exposure to exclusionary discipline. Between 2000 and 2010, North Carolina's Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) reassigned approximately 25 percent of students with the goal of creating socioeconomically diverse schools. Although WCPSS's controlled school choice policy provided opportunities for reassigned students to opt out of their newly reassigned schools, our analysis indicates that reassigned students typically attended their newly reassigned schools. We find that reassignment modestly boosts reassigned students' math achievement, reduces reassigned students' rate of suspension, and has no offsetting negative consequences on other outcomes. Exploratory analyses suggest that the effects of reassignment do not meaningfully vary by student characteristics or school choice decisions. The results suggest that carefully designed school assignment policies can improve school diversity without imposing academic or disciplinary costs on reassigned students.

No Choice Is the “Right” Choice: Black Parents’ Educational Decision-Making in Their Search for a “Good” School

In this article, Linn Posey-Maddox, Maxine McKinney de Royston, Alea R. Holman, Raquel M. Rall, and Rachel A. Johnson examine Black parents’ educational decision-making in the racial and educational contexts of predominantly white suburban districts, majority-Black urban schools with an Afrocentric focus, and racially diverse urban public and private schools. Undertaking a qualitative meta-analysis, they ask, How and why is anti-Black racism salient in Black parents’ educational decision-making around schooling? Their findings reveal that race and anti-Black racism are central to Black parents’ school choice decisions. Specifically, they shape the trade-offs parents made in choosing a school for their child(ren), their ongoing risk assessments regarding the potential for racialized harm in their child(ren)’s schooling, and their continuous decision-making about whether to keep their child enrolled or move them to a different school. Regardless of geography, school type, grade level, and/or social class, race and anti-Black racism shape Black parents’ educational decision-making as they work to ensure that their child(ren) receive a high-quality education within highly racialized schooling contexts.

Factors Affecting School Choice Decision Among Iranian Parents:, A Qualitative Study

Factors Affecting School Choice Decision Among Iranian Parents:, A Qualitative Study

Do school buses make school choice work?

While school choice has been well studied, there is little existing research exploring the role of transportation, in general, and school buses, in particular, to school choice decisions. We examine the effect of school buses on school choice decisions using data on kindergarten students and their eligibility for transportation assistance in New York City public schools in 2017. Using both conditional logit school choice models and regression discontinuity designs, we provide both descriptive and credibly causal evidence on the impact of school proximity, bus eligibility, and their interaction on school choice decisions. Our results indicate that proximity and buses both matter. Specifically, while distance significantly deters choice, school bus eligibility increases the likelihood of choosing a school by 1.4–4 percentage points (or 12-30 percent). Compared to a high-quality school, we find that bus eligibility has twice as large an impact on reducing the negative distance effect in the 0.5 to 1 mile range from school (27 versus 12 percent). These results will be useful for policy makers looking to leverage school transportation policy to improve school choice decisions, and ultimately student outcomes.

Class or caste? A study on the role of caste and wealth status in school choice decision

AbstractThere is a strong political opinion in India in favour of replacing caste based affirmative action with an economic class based one. We contribute to this debate by looking at the interaction of caste and wealth in school choice. We show that too rich and too poor parents behave in the same way irrespective of their caste identities—rich parents sending their children to private schools while poor parents choosing public schools for their children. The caste identity, we find, plays a role for the school choice decision made by the parents belonging to the economic middle class. Among the economic middle class parents, the ones from the privileged castes send their children to private schools, while the children of the parents from the disadvantaged castes are sent to public schools. The result is robust to alternative definitions of privileged and disadvantaged castes. For school quality choice, however, we find a monotonic relationship between wealth and school quality.

Children’s education rights at the transition to secondary education: School choice in Northern Ireland

The principles of school choice and diverse provision underpin transition to secondary education in a majority of countries. This article focuses on the potential for structural diversity to constrain rather than promote choice. Although intended to improve equity in access and quality of provision, choice‐based systems serve to homogenise school intakes and magnify attainment differences between schools. School choice decisions become high‐stakes in such contexts, because eventual school placements influence the future character of children’s schooling. In Northern Ireland, existing community divisions are reflected in the available school types, with a majority of places at either Catholic or de facto Protestant schools, and only a small number at Integrated schools. This results in high levels of homogenisation along community lines. In addition, the provision of separate grammar and non‐grammar schools means that intakes are also academically stratified, resulting in the extreme between‐school attainment differences characteristic of systems arranged in this way. Drawing on documentary evidence and a survey of transition‐age children, this research discusses how school choice within structurally complex systems can be constrained. The main focus is on how children’s education rights, as set down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, are placed at risk by the interaction of system‐level divisions. It concludes that school choice arrangements in Northern Ireland do not operate in compliance with children’s education rights when tested against each of the requirements set out in Tomasevski’s 4‐As scheme, namely that education provision must be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable.

Determinants of School Choice: Understanding How Parents’ Choose Primary School for Their Children in Arba Minch, Southern Ethiopia

Almost all parents want to educate their children in the best possible educational environment. Their decision to invest in children depends on a number of social, economic and cultural factors. Education in Ethiopia is offering by both public and private sector educational institutions. It is free of cost in public schools whereas in private schools, the parents have to bear the financial burden. For the last two decades private sector is emerging as an important source of imparting education in Ethiopia particularly in the study area. Many aspects regarding the education system of Ethiopia have been discussed in various studies so far. However, the factors which motivate the parents to make a decision about private sector are yet to be explored. The present study was conducted in Arba Minch town to scrutinize the factors which motivate the parents to educate their children in private schools. Primary data was collected for this purpose from 119 parents of elementary school students. The results were derived by using descriptive as well as inferential analysis. The logistic regression analysis suggests that parents’ perceptions play an important role in the school-choice decision. In particular, perceptions of school quality, cost of school, and teacher performance emerge as key determinants of private school choice. Additionally, age of the child, monthly income of household, distance from home to school, and numbers of children in family have a significant impact on parents’ probability of choosing a private school for their child. In the context of Ethiopia, we can therefore conclude that the school-choice decision is a combination of child, household and school characteristics. Moreover, these findings are important in unraveling the factors based on which parents decide which type of school to send their children.