Families Are Pushed and Pulled into School Choice

Last week, Texas reported that almost 275,000 students applied for the new Texas Education Freedom Accounts school choice program. Even with $1 billion in funding, only a fraction of those students will be able to participate. Demand far outstrips supply.

The first question anyone looking at this should ask is: Why are families so desperately looking for new educational options for their children?

A new survey, completed in collaboration between EdChoice and the Clayton Christensen Institute, offers answers.

Families are both pushed and pulled into school choice.

Sometimes they seek new options for their children because their child’s current school is either not good enough or actively harmful. Other times, they seek new options because what is on offer somewhere else is simply better.

Let’s look at some numbers. The survey looked at three groups of parents — those who had made a school switch, those who had considered a school switch but had not taken the leap, and those who were not considering changing their child’s school.

For families who switched schools, the top three “push” factors that were repelling them from their child’s former school were “I worried that my child was unsafe or uncomfortable at his/her school,” “I was concerned that my child has lost their love of learning due to something about the school,” and “my child loves to learn but dreaded going to school every day.”

Pretty bleak.

The top three “pull” factors drawing those families to new schools were, “I would feel that I had provided my child with the best opportunities available,” followed by, “my child would be able to learn in an environment in which he/she feels safe,” and “my child could be in an environment that would help him/her focus and excel.”

We can compare these factors to those identified by families who thought about switching but ultimately did not switch. For this group, the top three push factors were, “the school isn’t helping my child grow as a whole person,” followed by “my child loves to learn but dreads going to school every day,” and “I am concerned my child has lost their love of learning.”

Their top three pull factors were, “my child would be better prepared for the next step in their education,” followed by “I would feel that I had provided my child with the best opportunities available,” and “my child would experience more hands-on learning opportunities,”

Safety stands out the most between those two groups. Those who ultimately chose to move their child placed safety as the number one push factor. It did not top the list for non-choosers. Safety was also the number two pull factor for choosers.

The potential switchers were also asked about barriers to changing their child’s school to understand why they didn’t ultimately choose to move. The most popular response was, “staying at the same school as friends or family was important to us,” selected by just over one quarter of potential switchers. The next most popular was, “the school we were interested in is too far away,” followed by “we cannot afford to switch schools.”

There was a third group studied, those that did not choose nor were interested in choosing. Their top two responses were, not surprisingly, “My child likes their school” and “I am satisfied with my child’s school.”

Given the massive growth in private school choice, understanding parental decision making is key to crafting good public policy.

The survey’s philosophy was based in the Jobs to be Done framework of Clayton Christensen, the father of “disruptive innovation.” Applied to schools, it argues that parents do not buy school products and brands, rather they hire and fire schools to perform a ‘job’ for them.

This is helpful in thinking about school choice.

What are the jobs that parents need schools to do? Keeping their child safe is at the top of the list. Instilling a love of learning and being a place where children are happy to go are up there too. Parents also want to hire schools to help their children focus and excel.

How can a school get fired? Being unsafe is the surest bet. But being a dreadful, unpleasant place follows not far behind.

Notice how divorced this reasoning is from most conversations about educational choice. Much of the debate around choice talks test scores, graduation rates, and other quantitative data.

But what if parents are looking for something deeper? Parents’ desire to send their child to a school with friends and family points to the need for community that is at the heart of great schools.

Those looking to understand why families are flocking to choice programs in droves should think in terms of jobs to be done and the factors that push families away from some schools and pull families towards others.