School choice can be challenging for less-educated, non-English-speaking, lower-income parents, writes Emily Langhorne, associate director of the Reinventing America’s Schools Project. She’s been researching public Montessori schools, which often attract both low-income and middle-class families.
Montessori Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut has drawn students from middle-class and lower-income families.
Some of the Montessori schools she researched make it very hard to figure out how to apply, Lanhorne writes.
It’s great that choice is attracting middle-class families back to public schools, she writes. However, “public schools of choice need to be sure they’re reaching the children who need them the most, the ones who can’t afford to move to a better neighborhood or enroll in private school should they not win the lottery for their first-choice school.”
Some school systems are working making choice accessible, she notes.
For instance, New Orleans Public Schools requires that all schools provide transportation for students, and it has counseling centers where parents can learn about the choices available, access language services, and receive help with their application. Educational leaders need to listen to the needs of the community and tweak choice systems so that they keep improving by increasing both school quality and equity of access.
To ensure that choice increases educational equity, school leaders should emulate San Antonio by reserving a “percentage of seats at choice schools for their most disadvantaged students, Langhorne concludes.
Ed Navigator helps parents in New Orleans and Boston choose schools, communicate with teachers and advocate for their children.
