Stacey Bielick and Christopher Chapman, National Center for Education Statistics
May 2003
In this report, analysts at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), confirm that more poor families are taking advantage of new opportunities in the education marketplace - and that they're happier when they do. Analyzing three cycles of the National Household Education Survey from 1993 to 1999, NCES reports that the percentage of children attending traditional "assigned" public schools dropped from 80 to 76% between1993 and 1999. That drop was almost completely the result of a three percent rise in the percentage of students in "chosen" public schools (magnets or charters), from 11 to 14 percent. More striking is the percentage of children from very poor families who attend traditional public schools; it fell from 83 to 74 percent, with most of those students switching to "chosen" public schools. Most telling of all are the higher levels of parental satisfaction when it comes to public school choice. Compared to parents whose kids are in traditional public schools, parents of youngsters in "chosen" public schools are more likely to say they're "very satisfied" with teacher quality, academic standards, order and discipline, and overall school quality. We look forward to the results of the most recent survey, taken in 2002, to see if these trends continue. In the meantime, look up the report at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2003/2003031.pdf.