NCES on public school choice

email from the NCES:

From 1993 to 2007, the percentage of students enrolled in assigned public schools decreased from 80 percent to 73 percent, while the percentage of students enrolled in chosen public schools increased from 11 percent to 16 percent. Using data from the National Household Education Survey (NHES) of the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this report examines enrollment trends in public schools (assigned and chosen) and private schools (religious and nonsectarian), from 1993 to 2007, as well as the characteristics of students in these schools in 2007. Additionally, the report describes student enrollment in charter schools in 2007 and demographic characteristics of homeschooled students in 2007. The report also examines parents' satisfaction with and involvement in their children's schools.

Other findings include:

• In 2007, about 2 percent of students in grades 1 through 12 were enrolled in charter schools, and about 2.9 percent of all students ages 5 through 17 were homeschooled, most of them on a full-time basis.

• In 2007, about 50 percent of students had parents who reported that public school choice was available, and 27 percent had parents who reported that they had moved to their neighborhood for the child's school. Between 2003 and 2007, the percentage of students in chosen public schools who attended their parents' first-choice school increased from 83 to 88 percent.

Trends in the Use of School Choice 1993-2007